JESUS  THE  JEW 

AND    OTHER    ADDRESSES 


JESUS  THE  JEW 

AND    OTHER    ADDRESSES 


HARRIS  WEINSTOCK 


FUNK   &   WAGNALLS    COMPANY 
NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 

1902 


COPTKIGHT,    1901,  «T 

FUNK  &  WAGNALLS  COMPANY 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 
Published  in  July,  190* 


80 
MY  WIFE 


INTRODUCTION 

"  What  is  the  modern  Jewish  idea  of  Jesus  ? " 
"  Do  the  Jews  look  forward  to  the  coming  of 
a  Messiah  ? "  "  Do  they  continue  to  look  upon 
themselves  as  God's  chosen  people?"  "Does 
the  modern  Jew  approve  of  intermarriage?" 
These  and  similar  questions  have  been  asked  of 
the  author  by  non-Jews  who  were  seeking  en- 
lightenment on  these  subjects. 

In  the  following  chapters  the  author  has  en- 
deavored to  answer  these  and  kindred  queries 
as  a  Jewish  liberal. 

The  widespread  attention  which  some  of 
these  addresses,  when  delivered  from  the  plat- 
form, have  commanded  from  Jew  and  non-Jew, 
and  the  continual  demand  for  printed  copies, 
have  prompted  the  publication  of  this  volume. 

These  addresses  are  designed,  not  especially 
for  the  theologian,  nor  for  the  layman ;  not  for 
the  churched,  nor  for  the  unchurched;  not 
for  the  Christian,  nor  for  the  Jew ;  but  for  all 


Introduction 


who  are  earnestly  interested  in  these  inquiries. 
An  effort  has  been  made  to  be  as  explicit  and 
simple  as  possible,  tho  at  the  risk  of  occasional 
repetitions. 

Never  before  was  the  interest  in  the  Jew  and 
Judaism  so  pronounced  and  so  universal  as  it  is 
to-day.  The  wonderful  story  of  the  Jewish  race 
and  the  Jewish  faith  is  commanding  the  atten- 
tion of  the  most  thoughtful  people  the  world 
over.  If  the  views  set  forth  in  the  following 
pages  will  in  some  way  stimulate  thought  on 
the  subjects  therein  presented  and  help  cor- 
rect some  of  the  mistaken  notions  which,  de- 
spite our  enlightened  era,  may  yet  cling  to  Jew 
and  Christian  concerning  each  other,  the  author 
of  this  volume,  who  is  a  most  worthy  represen- 
tative of  the  Jewish  people  in  America,  will  feel 
well  rewarded  for  whatever  labors  he  may  have 

expended. 

DAVID  STARR  JORDAN. 

STANFORD  UNIVERSITY,  CALIFORNIA, 
May  15,  1902. 


JESUS  THE  JEW 

As  I  look  back  into  my  early  boyhood  days, 
the  picture  is  vividly  brought  to  my  mind  of 
the  old  rabbi  under  whose  instructions  I  re- 
ceived my  religious  training. 

Tho  thirty-odd  years  have  since  passed,  I  dis- 
tinctly recall  him  as  he  sat  at  the  head  of  the 
table,  surrounded  by  Jewish  lads  between  the 
ages  of  seven  and  thirteen,  his  long  flowing 
locks  and  white  beard  giving  him  the  air  of  one 
of  the  Biblical  patriarchs. 

I  recall  how  innocent  he  was  of  all  worldly 
knowledge,  with  what  contempt  he  looked  upon 
secular  instruction,  and  how  to  him  the  sum  of 
all  human  wisdom  was  confined  to  the  Torah 
and  the  Talmud.  The  greatest  savant  or  phi- 
losopher, if  unable  to  read  Hebrew,  was  to 
him  an  ignoramus.  All  truths,  all  knowledge 
worth  having  had  in  his  opinion  been  uttered 
by  the  Hebrew  prophets  and  the  great  Jewish 
Talmudists  and  commentators.  To  look  else- 


3c6us  tbe  Sew 


where  for  wisdom  or  knowledge  seemed  to  him 
a  waste  of  time  and  energy,  and  showed  a  lack 
of  appreciation  of  Jewish  thought  and  Jewish 
literature. 

Joshua  commands  that  "The  words  of  this 
To  rah  shall  not  cease  from  thy  mouth,  and  tl:ou 
shalt  meditate  thereon  day  and  night."  To  my 
old  and  pious  religious  teacher  this  injunction 
left  no  room  for  the  study  of  anything  but  Jew- 
ish lore. 

I  recall  that  upon  one  occasion,  one  of  the 
pupils  by  some  chance  brought  into  the  religious 
school  a  book  containing  the  name  of  Jesus.  I 
remember  how  wrought  up  and  excited  the  rabbi 
became  when  he  was  made  aware  of  its  presence 
in  the  schoolroom.  "Sacrilege!  Sacrilege!" 
he  indignantly  cried,  and  seemed  to  be  afraid 
to  touch  it.  I  remember  how  he  delivered  an 
impassioned  discourse  to  his  pupils  upon  the 
terrible  sufferings  to  which  the  Jews  had  been 
subjected  because  of  Jesus:  he  told  them  how 
the  Jews  had  been  made  outcasts  and  wanderers 
over  the  face  of  the  earth  ;  how,  for  hundreds  of 
years,  they  had  been  robbed  and  pillaged,  tor- 
tured and  plundered  ;  how  their  beards  had  been 
torn  from  their  roots,  their  teeth  drawn  from 


Sesus  tbe  3ew  13 

their  jaws,  their  bodies  cast  into  foul  dungeons ; 
how,  time  and  again,  they  had  been  put  on  the 
rack,  subjected  to  the  thumb-screw  and  burned 
at  the  stake,  all,  all,  on  account  of  Jesus. 

I  remember  how  aroused  and  impassioned  he 
became  while  recounting  the  frightful  sufferings 
and  calamities  which  had  been  inflicted  upon 
the  Jews,  for  all  of  which,  in  his  opinion,  Jesus 
was  primarily  responsible.  "  How  then,"  he 
concluded,  "can  any  self-respecting,  loyal  Jew 
take  into  his  hand  a  book  containing  the  name 
of  Jesus?  How  can  the  name  of  Jesus  be 
thought  of  without  connecting  it  in  the  mind  of 
the  Jew  with  the  centuries  of  inhuman  outrage 
and  persecution  heaped  upon  him  by  the  follow- 
ers of  Jesus  ? " 

For  many  years  these  utterances  and  teach- 
ings clung  to  my  mind,  and,  doubtless,  had 
their  influence  in  warping  my  thoughts  and  in 
coloring  my  ideas.  I  could  not  but  sympathize 
with  the  feelings  and  sentiments  of  my  people, 
and,  in  common  with  my  orthodox  teacher,  feel 
within  my  heart  that  the  badge  of  suffering  had 
been  placed  upon  the  Jew  by  the  words  and 
acts  of  Jesus.  All  this  I  felt  before  I  had 
an  opportunity  to  read  and  to  think  for  myself, 


14  3esu3  tbe  Jew 

before  the  words,  the  deeds,  and  the  sentiments 
of  the  Nazarene  were  known  to  me.  In  time, 
the  life  of  the  man  from  Galilee  became  to 
me  a  study  of  profound  interest.  I  read  the 
story  of  his  life  as  told  in  the  New  Testament; 
I  read  the  conception  of  Jesus  as  portrayed  by 
some  of  the  ablest  modern  Jewish  and  Christian 
scholars;  I  carefully  studied  his  utterances  as 
presented  in  the  gospels ;  and  the  picture  of  this 
great  and  wonderful  character  grew  to  me  to  be 
a  very  different  one  from  that  painted,  by  my 
venerable  and  pious,  but  uninformed,  Hebrew 
teacher.  I  found  that,  according  to  New-Testa- 
ment traditions,  Jesus  was  born  a  Jew,  lived  a 
Jew,  died  a  Jew.  I  found  that  he  had  preached 
nothing  but  Judaism  in  its  purest  and  simplest 
form.  I  found  that  the  thought  of  establishing 
a  new  belief,  or  even  a  new  sect,  was  farthest 
from  his  mind ;  that  his  aim  was  not  to  follow 
after  the  heathen,  but  to  seek  out "  the  lost  sheep 
of  the  house  of  Israel." 

I  found  that  Jesus  taught  nothing  and  knew 
nothing  about  the  Trinity,  Vicarious  Atone- 
ment, Election,  Predestination,  and  many  other 
Christian  dogmas.  He  simply  knew  Judaism, 
the  religion  of  his  birth,  which  he  practised  and 


tbe  3ew  15 


preached,  and  which  he  tried  to  keep  pure  and 
undefiled. 

I  found  that  his  mission  seemed  to  be  to  uplift 
the  lowly  and  to  expose  wickedness  in  high 
places. 

I  found  that  he  gave  his  heart,  his  soul,  and 
his  very  being  to  the  poor,  to  the  sick,  and  to 
the  needy.  He  said:  "  I  am  not  come  to  heal 
the  sound  ;  I  have  been  sent  unto  the  sick." 

I  found  that  he  was  a  man  of  unbounded  sym- 
pathies and  of  great  moral  courage  ;  that  he  was 
simply  striving  to  practise  and  to  preach  the 
great  moral  code  established  by  Moses  and  the 
prophets,  and  to  put  into  practise  literally  in  his. 
daily  life  the  great  lawgiver's  precept  of  "  love 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself." 

I  found  his  teachings  to  consist  chiefly  in  the 
following: 

"  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit." 

"  Blessed  are  they  that  mourn." 

"  Blessed  are  the  meek." 

"  Blessed  are  they  that  hunger  and  thirst  after 
righteousness." 

"  Blessed  are  the  merciful." 

"  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart." 

"  Blessed  are  the  peacemakers." 


16  -Jesus  tbe 


"  Blessed  are  they  which  are  persecuted  for 
righteousness'  sake." 

I  found  that  these  are  all  Jewish  teachings  re- 
duced to  a  clear  and  simple  form,  which  the 
most  orthodox  and  most  pious  Jew  must  accept 
as  a  part  of  his  own  faith. 

Why,  then,  was  it,  that,  in  view  of  such  ethi- 
cal Jewish  utterances,  the  Jews  should  have 
been  so  mistreated  by  the  followers  of  Jesus,  and 
Jesus  so  much  contemned  by  the  Jews? 

Then  followed,  on  my  part,  a  study  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  the  causes  which  led  to  Jewish  per- 
secution. It  took  but  little  reading  to  learn  that 
Paul,  the  Grecian  Jew,  and  not  Jesus,  was  the 
real  founder  of  Christianity  ;  that  Paul  was  the 
man  who  conceived  the  idea  of  spreading  Juda- 
ism among  the  Gentiles  by  preaching  the  God 
of  Israel  and  the  man  Jesus,  the  son  of  God.  I 
found  it  was  Paul's  heroic  qualities  which  en- 
abled him,  despite  the  severest  persecution  by 
Jew  and  Gentile,  to  surround  himself  with  a 
large  following,  not  of  Jews  alone,  but  of  hea- 
then as  well,  who  became  believers  in  the  Jew- 
ish God,  and  worshipers  of  the  Jewish  carpen- 
ter, Jesus,  whom  they  accepted  as  the  son  of 
God,  sent  upon  earth  to  save  the  human  family, 


tbe  5ew  17 


"  hence,  begetting  the  new  theology  irreconcil- 
able with  the  doctrines  and  the  discipline  of  the 
rabbis." 

History  tells  that  the  followers  of  Paul  were 
known  as  Jewish  Christians,  and  that  the  Jews 
among  them  continued  to  observe  all  the  Jewish 
forms  and  ceremonies,  and  to  lead  Jewish  lives, 
while  the  heathen  converts  were  not  called  upon 
to  practise  the  Jewish  forms,  or  to  observe  the 
Jewish  rites  or  dietary  laws.  A  belief  in 
God,  and  in  the  teaching  that  Jesus  was  the 
Son  of  God,  made  them  eligible  for  member- 
ship. 

It  is  true  that  according  to  the  gospel  of  St. 
Mark  Jesus  said:  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and 
preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature."  And  in 
the  gospel  of  St.  Matthew  we  also  find  a  similar 
utterance,  wherein  Jesus,  in  speaking  of  his  dis- 
ciples, says  :  "  Go  ye,  therefore,  and  teach  all 
nations." 

But  it  is  also  true  that  in  his  sermon  on  the 
mount  Jesus  said  : 

"  Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the 
law  or  the  prophets  ;  I  am  not  come  to  destroy 
but  to  fulfil. 

"  For  verily  I  say  unto  you,  till  heaven  and 


tbe  3evv 


earth  pass,  one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no  wise 
pass  from  the  law  till  all  be  fulfilled. 

"  Whosoever,  therefore,  shall  break  one  of 
these  least  Commandments,  and  shall  teach  men 
so,  he  shall  be  called  the  least  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven;  but  whosoever  shall  do  and  teach  them, 
the  same  shall  be  called  great  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven." 

And  later  in  the  gospel  of  St.  Matthew  he  says  : 

"  I  am  not  sent,  but  unto  the  lost  sheep  of  the 
house  of  Israel. 

"  Go  not  unto  the  way  of  the  Gentiles,  and 
into  any  city  of  the  Samaritans  enter  ye  not, 
but  go  rather  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of 
Israel." 

To  the  reader  of  the  Gospel  these  contradic- 
tions may  be  difficult  to  understand.  It  may 
not  seem  clear  how  the  statement  of  Jesus  that 
his  disciples  shall  go  into  all  the  world  and 
preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature  can  be  rec- 
onciled with  the  opposite  statement,  wherein  he 
says: 

"  Go  not  unto  the  way  of  the  Gentiles,  and 
into  any  city  of  the  Samaritans  enter  ye  not, 
but  go  rather  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of 
Israel." 


Sesus  tbe  5ew  19 

If  the  disciples  were  to  follow  the  one  injunc- 
tion, they  must  certainly  violate  the  other. 

When  it  is  remembered,  however,  that  emi- 
nent and  devout  Christian  scholars  have  made  it 
plain  that  neither  Jesus  nor  his  immediate  dis- 
ciples, excepting  perhaps  Matthew,  ever  wrote 
any  part  of  the  gospels  themselves,  and  that  the 
gospels,  as  we  now  find  them,  had  no  official 
authority,  and  were  not  definitely  quoted  until 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  birth 
of  Jesus,  and  that  meanwhile  they  were  largely 
handed  down  orally  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion, we  can  readily  see  how,  in  these  oral  trans- 
missions, contradictions  could  easily  creep  in. 
To  determine,  however,  which  of  these  two  op- 
posite teachings  Jesus  expected  to  be  observed, 
we  need  but  follow  the  course  of  action  adopted 
by  his  disciples,  who,  during  his  ministrations, 
were  at  his  side  day  and  night,  breathed  in  his 
every  word  and  thought,  and  faithfully  and 
earnestly  endeavored  to  observe  his  precepts. 

Their  conduct  after  his  death  makes  plain  the 
fact  that  he  had  filled  them  with  the  thought 
that  they  were  to  devote  themselves  to  the  lost 
sheep  of  Israel  and  not  to  the  Gentiles.  They 
faithfully  worshiped  in  the  synagog  and  ob- 


20  3esus  tbe 


served  all  the  Mosaic  laws  and  ceremonies  in 
compliance  with  the  injunctions  of  their  Master, 
and  made  no  effort  to  convert  the  heathen. 
They  insisted  that  the  heathen  must  first  be- 
come a  Jew  before  he  could  become  a  Christian. 

In  accordance  with  the  exhortations  of  Jesus, 
his  brother  James,  and  the  other  disciples  were 
so  insistent  on  the  rigid  observance  of  the  Mo- 
saic law,  that  Peter,  one  of  their  number,  who 
had  dined  with  the  Roman  centurion  Cornelius, 
was  severely  taken  to  task  for  eating  forbidden 
food,  and  thus  violating  the  Mosaic  dietary  laws. 
Peter  appeased  the  disciples  by  professing  to 
have  eaten  with  the  heathen  only  in  response  to 
a  positive  vision  from  God. 

Despite  the  fact  that  Jesus  observed  all  the 
Jewish  laws  and  ceremonies,  and  despite  the 
faithful  observance  on  the  part  of  his  disciples 
of  the  command  not  to  go  unto  the  way  of  the 
Gentiles,  Paul,  who  had  never  seen  Jesus  and 
who  did  not  become  a  convert  until  three  years 
after  his  death,  in  his  enthusiasm  to  proselyte 
and  to  spread  the  belief  in  the  Jewish  God  and 
in  the  Jewish  teachings,  did  not  hesitate  to  as- 
sume the  right  to  abrogate  or  to  modify  many 
of  the  Jewish  forms,  rites,  and  ceremonies.  It 


Sesus  tbe  Sew 21 

is  self-evident  that  Paul,  by  going  out  to  con- 
vert the  Gentile  world,  and  by  abolishing  the 
Mosaic  laws  when  his  Master  had  said  that  not 
one  jot  nor  one  tittle  should  pass  till  all  was 
fulfilled,  acted  contrary  to  the  spirit  and  to  the 
commands  of  Jesus. 

At  various  times,  more  especially  before  the 
Christian  era,  there  were  numerous  conversions 
of  heathens  to  Judaism,  amongst  whom  were 
illustrious  Gentiles  such  as  nobles  and  members 
of  royalty ;  but  in  the  language  of  the  historian 
Graetz:  "Judaism  possessed  no  eloquent  prose- 
lytizing apostle;  on  the  contrary,  it  dissuaded 
those  who  were  willing  to  come  over  by  remind- 
ing them  of  the  heavy  ordeal  through  which  they 
would  have  to  pass.  Jewish  proselytes  had  to 
overcome  immense  difficulties.  They  were  not 
accounted  converts  unless  they  separated  from 
their  families  and  from  the  friends  of  their  youth, 
in  eating  and  drinking,  and  in  daily  intercourse." 

The  Jews  had  so  much  faith  in  the  truth 
which  Judaism  taught  that,  as  a  rule,  they  pa- 
tiently waited  for  strangers  to  come  of  their  own 
accord  and  knock  for  admission  at  the  doors  of 
Judaism.  Not  so  Paul.  His  idea  was  to  unite 
the  whole  human  race  under  one  belief.  He 


22  3esus  tbe 


soon  realized,  however,  how  hopeless  the  task 
would  be  if  he  insisted  upon  the  observance  of 
the  severe  and  rigid  ceremonialism  of  the  Jew. 
To  Paul  the  spirit  was  everything;  the  form 
nothing.  Not  that  Paul  loved  the  letter  of  the 
law  less,  but  that  he  loved  the  spirit  of  his  re- 
ligion more.  He  clearly  saw  that  the  apostles 
of  Jesus,  by  their  unwillingness  to  let  one  jot 
or  tittle  pass  from  the  law,  would  permit  the 
spiritual  enthusiasm  which  Jesus  had  created  to 
die  out.  Paul  saw  a  magnificent  opportunity  to 
spread  the  beautiful  truths  of  Judaism  among 
the  millions  of  heathen.  He,  however,  realized 
that  this  could  be  done  only  by  ignoring  the  let- 
ter of  the  Jewish  law  and  by  observing  its  spirit. 
He  said:  "If  the  uncircumcision  keeps  the 
righteousness  of  the  law,  shall  not  his  uncircum- 
cision be  counted  for  circumcision?  Circum- 
cision is  that  of  the  heart,  in  the  spirit,  and  not 
in  the  letter." 

Paul  was  willing  to  let  form  go,  to  let  cere- 
mony go,  provided  he  could  implant  in  the  Gen- 
tile heart  the  worship  of  an  all-wise,  all-know- 
ing, and  all-righteous  God,  who  is  the  father  of 
the  human  family,  and  thus  lift  the  heathen  out 
of  the  slough  of  moral  degradation  and  vice, 


tbe  3ew  23 


and  fill  their  hearts  with  the  thought  that,  tho 
they  might  be  slaves  in  the  flesh,  they  had  each 
a  soul  beyond  the  reach  of  earthly  kings,  a  soul 
given  by  God,  before  whom  the  meanest  among 
men  stands  the  equal  of  prince  or  potentate.  It 
was  the  love  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  human- 
ity that  gave  Paul  the  courage  to  defy  the  au- 
thorities at  Jerusalem,  the  disciples  of  his  master, 
even  James,  the  brother  of  Jesus,  and  to  go  out 
into  the  heathen  world  at  the  risk  of  life  and  limb, 
and  to  preach  what  he  believed  to  be  the  truth. 

Thus,  from  the  beginning,  do  we  find  that 
much  which  was  done  by  Paul  and  others,  in  the 
name  of  Jesus,  was  done  of  their  own  volition, 
against  the  manifest  spirit  and  teachings  of 
Jesus,  and  for  which  he  should  not  be  held  re- 
sponsible. 

As  the  Jewish-Christian  movement  gained 
numbers  under  the  wonderful  leadership  of 
Paul,  it  also  grew  in  power,  until  it  attained  to 
such  proportions  in  Rome  —  the  very  heart  of 
heathendom  —  that  it  greatly  alarmed  the  au- 
thorities. One  of  the  pastimes  of  the  Roman 
Emperor  Nero  was  the  burning  of  numberless 
innocent  Christians  at  the  stake,  because  they 
were  unwilling  to  forsake  their  faith. 


24  3egug  tbe 


Thus  the  Christian,  in  common  with  the  Jew, 
has  had  his  full  share  of  religious  persecution. 
As  soon,  however,  as  Constantine  of  Rome 
adopted  Christianity,  and  incorporated  therein 
many  heathen  customs  and  practises,  and  made 
it  the  state  religion,  the  Christians  in  turn  be- 
came the  persecutors,  and  during  the  long  vista 
of  centuries  which  have  since  passed  they  have 
sacrificed  untold  numbers  of  innocent  men, 
women,  and  children  in  the  name  of  Jesus. 

How  Jesus  can  be  held  responsible  for  such 
conduct  on  the  part  of  his  misguided  followers 
seems  inconceivable  ! 

The  savage  and  cruel  persecutions  carried  on 
in  the  name  of  Jesus,  to  which  for  hundreds  of 
years  the  Jew  was  subjected,  are  deplored  by 
none  more  than  by  the  intelligent  Christian  him- 
self, who  looks  upon  the  record  of  priestly  crime 
and  bloodshed,  of  religious  torture  and  outrage, 
as  a  blot  on  the  fair  name  of  the  religion  taught 
by  Jesus,  since  called  Christianity,  and  a  stain  on 
the  memory  of  the  gentle  Nazarene,  since  called 
the  Savior. 

The  Jew  of  to-day  resents  the  idea  of  respon- 
sibility for  the  crucifixion  of  Jesus.  The  Jew  of 
to-day  must  not,  therefore,  hold  Jesus  respon- 


tbe 


sible  for  acts  committed  by  his  blinded  follow- 
ers who  flagrantly  violated  his  teachings. 

Imagine,  if  you  can,  this  gentle  teacher  in 
Israel  coming  back  to  life  and  seeing  his  Cath- 
olic followers  burning  at  the  stake  his  Protestant 
followers,  all  in  the  name  of  Jesus.  Or  imagine 
him  returning  to  earth  and  rinding  both  his  Cath- 
olic and  Protestant  worshipers  persecuting,  in 
his  name,  the  members  of  the  faith  in  which  he 
was  born  and  lived  and  died;  persecuting  his 
own  brethren  whom  he  loved,  and  for  whom  he 
stood  ready  to  make  any  sacrifice.  What,  think 
you,  would  be  his  feelings?  Unless  his  spirit 
were  very  different  from  that  given  him  by  his 
disciples,  such  scenes  would  rack  and  distract 
him.  To  feel  that  because  of  him  innocent 
blood  was  shed  would  make  him  cry  out  in  the 
agony  of  his  soul,  and  stretch  out  his  hands  in 
the  attempt  to  stop  the  murderous  work  going 
on  in  his  name.  If  he  could  come  to  life  again 
and  learn  of  the  myriads  of  helpless  men  and 
women,  who,  in  his  name,  were  racked  and 
tortured  and  put  to  horrible  deaths,  he  would 
lament  the  hour  that  gave  him  birth,  and  feel 
himself  to  have  been  a  blighting  curse  where 
he  had  hoped  to  be  a  blessing. 


26  3esus  tbe 


If,  restored  to  life,  he  were  to  learn  of  the  end- 
less and  bloodthirsty  religious  wars  which  for 
centuries  were  waged  among  his  misguided  fol- 
lowers ;  if  he  were  to  learn  of  the  carnage  and 
desolation,  of  the  endless  bloodshed  and  suffer- 
ings, of  the  countless  persecutions  caused  by 
his  misinterpreted  teachings,  he  would  sit  in 
sackcloth  and  in  ashes,  and  yield  himself  up  to 
the  anguish  of  a  broken  heart. 

God,  in  his  wisdom,  has  ordained  that  joy 
may  come  through  sorrow;  pleasure  through 
pain;  progress  through  adversity;  prosperity 
through  misfortune;  tolerance  through  perse- 
cution ;  enlightenment  through  ignorance,  and 
that  love  shall  come  through  hatred. 

That  God  is  all-wise  and  all-knowing  is 
manifest  everywhere.  That  his  ways,  which 
seem  to  us  so  mysterious,  are  the  ways  of 
goodness  and  wisdom  is  manifested  every  day 
of  our  lives.  That  things  which  seem  curses 
are  turned  into  blessings  is  shown  us  time  and 
again. 

If  it  be  true  that  God  at  times  communes 
with  his  children,  and  that  when  he  has  a  mes- 
sage to  convey  he  chooses  his  messenger  and 
sends  us  his  word  in  his  own  inscrutable  way, 


tbe  3ew  27 


we  may  say  that  when  God  saw  fit  to  reveal 
himself  to  man,  he  chose  for  his  messenger  the 
patriarch  Abraham,  and  gave  him  the  courage 
to  proclaim,  in  the  midst  of  idolatry,  the  belief 
in  an  unimageable  and  invisible  God.  When  in 
the  judgment  of  the  Almighty  the  time  was  at 
hand  to  uplift  his  people,  he  chose  Moses  as  his 
messenger,  and  touched  him  with  the  wand  of  in- 
spiration, and  the  children  of  Israel  became  the 
possessors  of  the  immortal  Ten  Commandments. 
When  the  hour  arrived  for  these  commandments 
and  the  other  teachings  of  Moses  and  the 
prophets  to  be  presented  in  a  newer  and  more 
attractive  form,  Jesus  arose,  and,  by  his  simple, 
yet  matchless  oratory,  by  his  self-sacrificing 
spirit  and  his  devotion  to  the  poor,  the  neg- 
lected, and  the  forsaken  in  Israel,  created  a 
spiritual  wave  among  his  Jewish  brethren  that 
was  destined  to  have  a  far-reaching  influence. 
When  the  hour  arrived  for  the  sublime  Jewish 
truths  to  be  spread  among  the  nations  of  the 
world,  Paul  arose,  and  became  the  herald  of 
God's  word,  and  thus  brought  to  the  benumbed 
and  benighted  minds  of  the  heathen  nations  a 
moral  joy  and  a  spiritual  bliss  theretofore  un- 
known to  them. 


frcsug  tbe  Sew 


Had  there  been  no  Abraham,  there  would 
have  been  no  Moses.  Had  there  been  no  Moses, 
there  would  have  been  no  Jesus.  Had  there 
been  no  Jesus,  there  would  have  been  no  Paul. 
Had  there  been  no  Paul,  there  would  have  been 
no  Christianity.  Had  there  been  no  Christian- 
ity, there  would  have  been  no  Luther.  Had 
there  been  no  Luther,  there  would  have  been  no 
Pilgrim  fathers  to  land  on  these  shores  with  the 
Jewish  Bible  under  their  arms.  Had  there  been 
no  Pilgrim  fathers,  there  would  have  been  no  civil 
or  religious  liberty.  Had  there  been  no  civil  or 
religious  liberty,  tyranny  and  despotism  would 
still  rule  the  earth,  and  the  human  family  would 
still  live  in  mental,  moral,  and  physical  bondage. 

Without  Jesus  and  without  Paul,  the  God 
of  Israel  would  still  have  been  the  God  of  a 
handful,  the  God  of  a  petty,  obscure,  and  in- 
significant tribe;  the  magnificent  moral  teach- 
ings of  Moses  would  still  have  been  confined 
to  the  thinly  scattered  believers  in  Judaism, 
and  the  great  world  of  men  and  women  would 
have  been  left  so  much  the  poorer  because  of 
their  ignorance  of  these  benign  teachings. 

Let  the  Jew,  despite  the  centuries  of  persecu- 
tion and  suffering,  be  thankful  that  there  was  a 


tbe  3ew  29 


Jesus  and  a  Paul.  Let  him  more  fully  appre- 
ciate that,  through  the  wonderful  influence  of 
these  heroic  characters,  the  mission  of  the  Jew 
is  being  better  fulfilled,  and  his  teachings  are 
being  spread  to  the  remotest  nooks  and  corners 
of  the  world  by  Christianity,  "  a  religion  by  which 
millions  have  been,  and  still  are,  quickened  and 
inspired."  Let  the  Jew  not  forget  that,  through 
the  influence  of  Jesus  and  Paul,  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments of  Moses,  the  sublime  utterances  of 
Isaiah,  of  Micah,  of  Jeremiah,  the  proverbs  of 
Solomon,  and  the  psalms  of  David,  have  brought, 
and  are  bringing,  and  will  continue  to  bring, 
balm  and  comfort,  joy  and  happiness,  spiritual 
bliss  and  moral  sunshine,  into  untold  millions  of 
homes. 

Thus  is  the  Christian,  through  Jesus  and  Paul, 
deeply  indebted  to  the  Jew  ;  and  thus  is  the  Jew 
also,  through  Jesus  and  Paul,  deeply  indebted 
to  the  Christian.  The  Christian  and  Jew  of  to- 
day, each  in  his  own  way,  is  manfully  striving  to 
perform  his  part  in  preaching  the  belief  in  the 
same  God  who  is  all-just,  all-wise,  and  all-know- 
ing ;  each  is  trying  to  do  his  share  by  spreading 
among  his  fellow  men  a  love  for  morality  and 
righteousness. 


30  Sesus  tbe  5evv 

Christianity  and  Judaism  are  supplementary  to 
each  other.  Had  there  been  no  Judaism,  there 
could  have  been  no  Christianity.  Had  there 
been  no  Christianity,  the  message  of  Judaism 
could  not  have  become  so  speedily  universalized. 
There  is  ample  room  in  this  broad  world  for  the 
followers  of  both  beliefs  to  accomplish,  side  by 
side,  a  most  heroic  religious  and  moral  work.  A 
difference  in  matters  of  theology  need  in  no  way 
interfere  with  Jew  and  Christian  preaching  and 
teaching  the  fatherhood  of  God,  and  living  in 
the  spirit  of  the  brotherhood  of  man.  So  to 
teach  and  so  to  live,  whether  born  under  the  in- 
fluence of  church  or  synagog,  whether  looking 
upon  the  Nazarene  as  man  or  God,  is  to  win 
moral  happiness  in  this  world  and  in  the  world 
hereafter. 

I  have  known  Jews,  and,  doubtless,  you  have, 
who,  despite  education  and  so-called  culture, 
were  so  narrow,  so  bigoted,  that  they  practised 

y  ."•  --    — 

a  spirit  of  aloofness,  who,  tho  willing  to  buy 
from  or  sell  to  the  Christian,  and  to  receive 
from  or  render  professional  service  to  the  non- 
Jew,  were  unwilling  to  eat  or  to  drink  with  him, 
to  worship  with  or  to  cultivate  a  feeling  of  fel- 
lowship for  a  Christian  neighbor. 


3esug  tbe  Sew 31 

I  have  known  Christians,  and  so  have  you, 
who  likewise,  despite  education  and  so-called 
culture,  were  the  creatures  of  such  narrowness 
of  spirit,  such  littleness  of  soul,  that  they  would 
draw  the  line  of  fellowship  at  the  non-Christian. 

Jews  might  be  good  enough  to  have  given 
them  their  Bible,  their  Savior;  good  enough  to 
have  given  them  their  moral  code,  and  their  relig- 
ious spirit ;  good  enough  to  do  their  share  in  the 
world's  great  economic,  industrial,  and  commer- 
cial work ;  but  not  good  enough  for  fellowship, 
whatever  might  be  their  moral,  mental,  or  social 
excellences. 

What,  think  you,  would  happen  if  the  Galilean 
rabbi,  Jesus,  were  to  come  back  to  life  and  ap- 
pear before  them  as  the  meek  and  humble  Jew 
that  he  was?  His  Jewish  name  and  face  and 
lineage  would  cause  them  to  bar  against  him  the 
doors  of  their  homes,  their  hotels,  and  their 
club-houses,  despite  the  fact  that  they  would 
continue  in  their  churches  to  bow  down,worship, 
and  adore  him  as  God's  only  anointed. 

God,  have  pity  on  such  Jews  and  on  such 
Christians.  God,  have  mercy  on  such  petty,  nar- 
row, and  misguided  souls.  Such  as  these  surely 
need  your  sympathies  and  mine,  despite  the  fact 


32  3esus  tbe 


that  their  conduct  carries  with  it  its  own  punish- 
ment, —  the  punishment  of  depriving  themselves 
of  the  benefit  and  blessings  which  come  from 
contact  with  good  men  and  women,  whatever 
their  race,  or  creed,  or  belief.  How  small  would 
such  souls  seem  to  the  broad  and  tolerant  Naz- 
arene  !  How  he  would  lay  the  lash  on  the  back 
of  Jews  and  Christians,  whose  arrogance  would 
lead  them  to  look  upon  themselves  as  better  than 
their  neighbors,  no  matter  how  great  the  virtues 
of  such  neighbors  ! 

May  the  spirit  of  the  humble  teacher  of  Galilee 
enter  the  hearts  and  minds  of  such  blinded  Jews 
and  Christians,  and  lead  them  to  judge  their 
neighbors  as  men  and  as  women,  and  not  as 
members  of  a  particular  race  or  followers  of  a 
particular  belief.  And  may  the  same  spirit  lead 
~*-~*J  '  Jew  and  Christian  to  judge  each  other  by  the 
daily  life  ;  to  shun  only  the  wicked  and  the  vul- 
gar and  to  welcome  to  their  hearts  and  their 
firesides  the  good,  the  true,  and  the  virtuous,  no 
matter  under  what  form  they  worship  our  com- 
mon Father. 

That  the  Christian  is  reaching  a  better  under- 
standing of  the  hopes,  the  aims,  and  the  spiritual 
aspirations  of  the  Jew  and  his  religion  is  made 


Sesus  tbe  3ew  33 

manifest  by  the  generous  sentiments  now  so  fre- 
quently heard  from  the  most  orthodox  Christian 
pulpits  toward  the  Jew  and  his  religion,  senti- 
ments that  are  taking  the  place  of  the  teachings 
of  hate  and  animosity  which,  for  centuries, 
through  ignorance  or  malice,  fell  from  minis- 
terial and  priestly  lips,  and  instilled  bitterness 
and  ill-will  into  the  heart  and  mind  of  the  child 
in  the  Christian  Sabbath-school. 

Christian  ministers  are  more  and  more  reali- 
zing how  unchristian  it  is  to  disseminate  hatred 
and  ill-will,  when  their  master  taught  them  to 
preach,  "  Peace  and  good-will."  They  are  more 
and  more  realizing  how  unchristlike  it  is  to 
deny  to  the  race  that  gave  the  Christian  world 
its  God,  its  Bible,  and  its  Savior,  the  credit  to 
which  they  are  entitled  for  all  these  gifts  so  dear 
to  the  Christian  heart.  They  are  more  and  more 
realizing  that  had  the  Jew  perished  or  been  ab- 
sorbed, the  Christian's  strongest  proof  of  the 
authenticity  of  the  Bible  and  the  existence  of 
his  Savior  would  have  been  lost.  Thus  is  love 
taking  the  place  of  hate  in  Christian  hearts,  tol- 
erance the  place  of  intolerance,  and  thus  is  a 
feeling  of  brotherhood  displacing  a  feeling  of 
enmity. 


34  3esu8  tbe  Jew 

Nor  is  this  softening  of  character,  this  grow- 
ing gentleness  of  spirit  confined  to  the  Chris- 
tian. The  past  few  decades  have  brought  a 
marked  change  in  the  feeling  of  the  Jew  toward 
the  Christian  and  his  master,  Jesus. 

The  indignation  felt  toward  the  very  mention 
of  Jesus  which  filled  Jewish  hearts  during  the 
centuries  of  persecution  at  the  hands  of  his  fol- 
lowers is  speedily  being  replaced  in  the  modern 
Jewish  mind  by  a  keen  appreciation  of  the 

beauty  and  the  nobleness  of  the  character  of 

3 

Jesus. 

His  wisdom  and  gentleness,  his  unselfishness 
of  spirit  and  his  love  for  humanity,  his  desire  to 
live  in  the  spirit  of  the  early  Jewish  prophets, 
and  to  practise  in  his  daily  life  the  ethics  of 
Judaism,  are  becoming  better  understood,  so 
that  the  modern  Jew  looks  upon  Jesus  as  one  of 
the  greatest  gifts  that  Israel  has  given  to  the 
world,  and  he  is,  therefore,  proud  to  call  Jesus 
his  very  own:  blood  of  his  blood,  flesh  of  his 
flesh. 

It  is  not  necessary  that  Jew  shall  become 
Christian,  nor  that  Christian  shall  become  Jew, 
in  order  that  a  bond  of  brotherhood  shall  pre- 
vail. Each  in  his  own  way  can  be  true  to  his 


tbe  3ew  35 


faith,  and  can  continue  to  observe  the  laws  of 
God  as  he  understands  them,  to  worship  his 
Creator  in  accordance  with  the  dictates  of  his 
own  conscience.  Both  may  continue  to  live  side 
by  side  in  peace  and  in  harmony,  respecting  each 
other's  beliefs,  manifesting  the  fullest  tolerance 
for  each  other's  religious  opinions,  giving  each 
other  credit  for  good  intentions,  loving  each 
other  for  their  virtues,  and  casting  the  mantle 
of  charity  over  each  other's  failings. 

Jew  and  Christian  should  continue  to  seek  out 
the  many  beliefs  they  have  in  common,  and  to 
join  hands  in  working  together  for  humanity. 

The  object-lesson  should  become  multiplied 
a  thousandfold  the  world  over,  which  for  years 
existed  in  my  own  city,  where  our  worthy  rabbi 
worked  in  most  perfect  harmony  with  a  Protes- 
tant ex-clergyman  and  a  devout  Catholic  in 
their  efforts  to  save  the  youth  in  our  midst  from 
vice  and  degradation.  What  a  glory  and  a  joy 
it  would  be  to  the  Nazarene,  were  he  now  to  re- 
turn to  life  and  find  so  many  of  his  beloved 
Jewish  brethren  and  his  earnest  Christian  fol- 
lowers living  side  by  side  in  peace  and  in  har- 
mony and  working  together  for  a  common  good  ! 

The  Jew  should  continue  to  cultivate  a  broad 


36  5esus  tbe 


and  liberal  spirit.  He  should  avoid  the  narrow- 
^/fness,  the  religious  exclusiveness  of  the  Pharisee 
and  the  social  exclusiveness  of  the  Sadducee. 
His  sympathies  should  continue  to  widen,  his 
religious  horizon  to  broaden,  and  his  spirit  of 
tolerance  should  become  his  crowning  glory. 

Let  the  Christian  continue  to  preach  and  to 
practise  the  ethics  of  Judaism  as  set  forth  in  the 
Old  as  well  as  the  New  Testament.  Let  him 
strive  to  eliminate  from  Christianity  the  ele- 
ments of  paganism  grafted  upon  it  during  its 
earlier  history,  so  that  his  teachings  may  be- 
come more  purified  and  brought  back  to  the 
simple  belief  taught  by  the  humble  carpenter 
from  Galilee.  Jew  and  Christian  shall  thus  be 
brought  into  still  closer  touch  and  into  still 
greater  harmony  and  fellowship.  Each,  in  his 
own  way,  may  go  on  striving  to  fulfil  the  noble 
teachings  of  his  belief  and  aiming  to  live  in 
accordance  with  the  many  lofty  and  beautiful 
truths  imbibed  at  the  breast  of  Judaism  by  the 
Nazarene  and  by  Paul,  which  they  gave  back  to 
the  world  clothed  in  a  newer  and  brighter  form. 

Let  the  Christian,  in  accordance  with  the  dic- 
tates of  his  conscience,  continue  to  preach  Jesus 
as  "  The  Divine  man  who  lived  humanly,"  and 


tbe  3ew  37 


let  the  Jew  learn  to  look  upon  him  as  "  The  hu- 
man Man  who  lived  divinely." 

Jesus,  instead  of  being  the  dividing-line  be- 
tween Jew  and  Christian,  shall  thus  become  the 
connecting  link  between  the  divine  mother-re- 
ligion, Judaism,  and  her  noble  daughter,  Chris- 
tianity. 

May  Jews  and  Christians  learn  to  love  their 
neighbors  as  themselves,  and  by  example  as  well 
as  by  precept  become  nations  of  priests  and  a 
blessing  to  humanity. 

In  this  spirit  alone  can  the  Christian  follow  in 
the  footsteps  of  his  master,  Jesus.  In  this  spirit 
alone  can  the  Jew  follow  the  teachings  of  his 
gentle  and  kindly  religion.  In  this  spirit  alone 
can  Jew  and  Christian  hope  to  be  of  service  to 
each  other  and  to  the  human  family. 


ana  Christian  €>toe  to 


II 

WHAT     JEW    AND     CHRISTIAN     OWE 
TO   EACH   OTHER 

NOT  long  ago  I  received  a  lengthy  communi- 
cation from  a  gentleman  who  took  occasion  to 
criticize  certain  views  I  had  expressed  in  an  ad- 
dress delivered  by  me  before  a  religious  body. 
The  writer  of  that  communication  had  evidently 
been  born  and  reared  under  Christian  influences, 
but  had  become  an  opponent  of  Christianity, 
and  an  atheist.  Speaking  of  the  influence 
of  the  Bible  and  the  Christian  religion,  he 
says: 

"  Civilization,  literature,  art,  education,  and 
general  intelligence  existed  ages  before  the  dis- 
turbing elements  of  Christianity  had  found 
lodgment  in  the  human  mind.  ...  I  have  al- 
ways felt  that  it  would  be  far  better  if  the  Old 
and  the  New  Testament  had  never  existed ;  if 
the  name  of  Christ  had  never  been  lisped  by 
human  tongue;  if  the  religion  promulgated  in 
the  name  of  the  mythical  Jesus  had  never  been 


42  HUbat  3ew  anfc  Gbristian  ©we  Eacb  ©tber 

thought  of,  than  that  the  ages  of  suffering  and 
devastation,  misery  and  death,  had  followed  the 
introduction  of  that  name." 

My  non-believing  correspondent  spoke  but  the 
truth  when  he  said  that  "  civilization,  literature, 
art,  education,  and  general  intelligence  existed 
ages  before  the  disturbing  elements  of  Chris- 
tianity had  found  lodgment  in  the  human  mind." 
The  splendor  of  the  Egyptian  court,  the  great- 
ness of  Nineveh,  Babylon,  and  Persia,  the  liter- 
ature and  philosophy  of  Greece,  the  high  stand- 
ard of  civilization  attained  by  Rome,  existed 
centuries  before  Christianity  was  dreamed  of. 
Seneca  was  born  2  B.C.  and  wrote  his  counsels 
of  moral  perfection  before  Jesus  was  heard  of 
in  Rome.  Livy  gave  to  the  world  great  his- 
torical works  20  B.C.  Virgil  had  gained  fame  as 
a  great  poet  40  B.C.  Plato  had  written  a  won- 
derful philosophy,  and  Demosthenes  had  be- 
come one  of  the  world's  greatest  orators  350  B.C. 
Socrates  had  taught  his  pure  and  uplifting  mor- 
ality four  hundred  years  before  the  Christian 
era.  Phidias  had  given  his  marvelous  works  of 
art  in  marble  and  in  bronze  nearly  five  hundred 
years  before  the  birth  of  Jesus,  and  Homer  had 
sung  his  immortal  lyrics  more  than  eight  hun- 


Tan  bat  Sew  an&  Cbristian  ©we  Bacb  ©tber  43 

dred  years  before  Paul  went  forth  to  preach 
Christianity. 

That  the  influence  of  the  heathen  philosophers 
and  scientists,  artists  and  poets,  statesmen  and 
orators,  moralists  and  teachers,  had  a  potent  in- 
fluence on  their  time,  and  more  or  less  continue 
to  have  a  potent  influence  even  on  our  time,  will 
not  be  denied.  No  great  deed  can  be  achieved 
and  no  great  thought  can  be  expressed — no  mat- 
ter by  whom,  when,  or  where — that  is  not  cer- 
tain to  live  and  to  wield  a  permanent,  though 
silent,  influence.  To  deny  our  obligations  to 
the  great  men  of  thought  and  action  who  be- 
longed to  centuries  before  the  Christian  era, 
and  who  were  born  and  reared  under  the  influ- 
ence of  paganism  and  heathenism,  would  be  an 
evidence  of  ignorance  or  unfairness.  Our  pres- 
ent civilization  comes  from  no  one  stream  alone, 
but  is  the  concentrated  result  of  the  influences 
which  have  come  from  all  streams  and  from  all 
the  ages  of  the  civilization  of  the  past.  The 
deeds  and  the  thoughts  of  little  value  have  van- 
ished, and  lie  deeply  buried  in  the  bosom  of  the 
past.  The  thoughts  and  the  achievements  of 
those  gone  before,  which  appealed  to  mankind 
and  which  have  aided  in  its  building  up,  have 


44  THttbat  3ew  anfc  Cbristian  ©we  Bacb  ©tber 

been  handed  down,  and  are  likely  to  continue 
to  be  handed  down,  at  long  as  civilization  shall 
endure.  No  intelligent  believer,  however  de- 
vout he  may  be,  will  deny  the  good  which  was 
achieved  for  humanity  by  the  great  and  the  good 
of  heathendom.  And  no  skeptic  nor  unbe- 
liever can  be  just  or  well-informed,  who  will 
deny  the  still  greater  good  which  has  come  to 
civilization  through  Christianity. 

I  cheerfully  give  testimony  to  this  as  a  Jew, 
and  when  I  give  such  testimony  in  behalf  of 
Christianity,  I  believe  I  voice  the  sentiment  of 
every  intelligent,  fair-minded  Jew. 

It  is  true  that  the  enemies  of  Christianity  can 
present  a  strong  case  against  Christian  civiliza- 
tion, by  pointing  out  that,  despite  Christian 
teachings  and  Christian  professions,  war  and  de- 
struction, carnage  and  bloodshed,  hate  and  envy, 
vice  and  degradation,  wickedness  and  unholi- 
ness,  thrive  in  many  places  throughout  Christen- 
dom; that,  while  professing  Christians  repeat 
the  teachings  of  their  master,  too  often  these 
repetitions  are  mere  lip-words  that  come  from 
the  head  and  not  from  the  heart. 

It  is  not  difficult  for  an  unfair  critic  to  find 
much  under  heathen  civilization  to  command 


IKHbat  Jew  anfc  Gbristian  ©we  Eacb  ©tber  45 

respect  and  admiration,  and  much  under  Chris- 
tian civilization  to  be  denounced  and  con- 
demned. A  spirit  of  fairness  demands,  how- 
ever, not  that  the  virtues  of  heathenism  should 
be  placed  in  contrast  with  the  evils  of  Chris- 
tianity, but  that  the  general  condition  of  society 
and  the  average  mental,  moral,  and  material  con- 
dition of  the  individual  under  heathenism  should 
be  compared  with  that  under  Christianity.  The 
most  pious  Christian,  I  hope,  will  not  maintain 
that  all  human  beings  were  cruel  and  wicked 
under  heathen  civilization,  nor  that  all  men  and 
women  are  saints  under  Christian  civilization. 
If  more  people,  however,  "do  justice,  love 
mercy,  and  walk  humbly  before  their  God " 
under  Christian  influence  than  under  the  influ- 
ence of  heathenism,  then  the  crown  of  glory 
must  be  placed  upon  the  brow  of  Christianity. 

Here  is  a  word-picture  of  the  conditions  exist- 
ing under  heathenism  painted  by  a  modern 
writer  in  The  North  British  Review : 

'  The  corrupting  influence  of  paganism  met 
man  in  every  incident  of  life,  ...  in  business, 
in  pleasure,  in  literature,  in  politics,  in  the 
armies,  in  the  theaters,  in  the  streets,  in  the 
baths,  at  the  games,  in  the  decorations  of  his 


46  TKttbat  3ew  anO  Gbristian  ©we  Eacb  ©tber 

home,  in  the  ornaments  and  service  of  his  table ; 
in  the  very  conditions  and  the  physical  phenom- 
ena of  nature.  It  is  not  easy  to  call  up  as  a 
reality  the  intending  sinner  addressing  to  the 
deified  vice  which  he  contemplates  a  prayer  for 
the  success  of  his  design ;  the  adulteress  implor- 
ing of  Venus  the  favors  of  her  paramour ;  the 
harlot  praying  for  an  increase  of  her  sinful 
gains ;  the  panderer  begging  the  protection  of 
the  goddess  on  her  shameful  trade;  the  thief 
praying  to  Hermes  Dolios  for  aid  in  his  enter- 
prises or  offering  up  to  him  the  first-fruits  of 
his  plunder;  young  maidens  dedicating  their 
girdles  to  Athene  Apaturia;  youths  entreating 
Hercules  to  expedite  the  death  of  a  rich  uncle. 
And  yet  these  things,  and  far  worse  than  these, 
meet  us  over  and  over  again  in  every  writer  who 
ft  I  has  left  a  picture  of  Roman  manners  in  the  later 
c  republic  and  under  the  beginning  of  the  Em- 
pire." 

Referring  to  the  morality  and  the  philosophy 
taught  by  the  heathen  stoics,  Froude  declares : 
"It  carried  no  consolation  to  the  hearts  of  suf- 
fering millions  who  were  in  no  danger  of  being 
led  away  by  luxury,  because  their  whole  lives 
were  passed  in  poverty  and  wretchedness.  It 


What  Sew  an&  Gbrtstian  ©we  Bacb  ©tber  47 

was  not  missionary.  The  Stoic  declared  no 
active  war  against  corruption.  He  stood  alone, 
protesting  scornfully  in  silent  example  against 
evils  which  he  was  without  power  to  cure.  Like 
Caesar,  he  folded  himself  in  his  mantle.  The 
world  might  do  its  worst.  He  would  keep  his 
own  soul  unstained." 

George  C.  Lorimer  (to  whose  work  on  "  The 
Argument  for  Christianity"  I  am  deeply  in- 
debted for  many  facts  here  presented)  calls  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  the  foremost  heathen 
Stoic  philosophers  felt  little  or  no  moral  im- 
pulse from  their  own  teachings  as  witnessed 
in  their  lives:  "Cato,  the  elder,  was  notorious 
for  his  cruelty  to  his  slaves.  Brutus  was  guilty 
of  continued  and  merciless  usury.  The  name 
of  Sallust  was  a  by-word  for  contemptible  ava- 
riciousness.  And  Seneca,  the  Roman  moralist, 
has  not  been  entirely  exculpated  from  the  re- 
sponsibility for  some  of  the  crimes  of  his  royal 
pupil,  Nero." 

The  condition  of  women  and  children,  under 
heathen  civilization,  was  far  below  that  accorded 
them  under  Christianity.  The  heathen  regarded 
woman  as  his  inferior:  "In  cultured  Greece, 
woman's  only  avenue  to  higher  education  was 


43  TTClbat  3ew  an&  Gbristian  ©we  Eacb  ©tber 

through  harlotry.  In  the  time  of  Socrates, 
only  public  women  enjoyed  intellectual  ad- 
vantages, and,  during  the  imperial  age  of 
Rome,  the  condition  of  woman  fell  to  a  low 
degree." 

A  writer  describing  society  under  the  Caesars 
says:  "We  are  assured  by  Seneca  that  there 
were  women  in  Rome  who  counted  their  age, 
not  by  the  consuls,  but  by  their  husbands,  and 
by  Terence  that  one  had  married  eight  hus- 
bands in  five  years.  Divorce  was  resolved  upon 
on  the  slightest  pretext.  Cicero  put  away  Te- 
rentia  apparently  because  he  had  a  rich  ward 
whose  fortune  he  coveted.  Many  separated 
merely  for  love  of  change,  disdaining  to  give 
any  reason,  like  Emilius  Paulus,  who  told  his 
friends  that  '  he  knew  best  where  the  shoe 
pinched  him.' " 

As  against  these  pictures,  let  us  look  upon 
others  presenting  an  opposite  view. 

Lorimer  speaks  of  the  Christian  missionaries 
who  traverse  the  globe,  "to  save  in  time  for 
eternity  the  low-browed,  animalistic  benighted 
masses  of  alien  lands,  save  them  from  disgust- 
ing wizardry,  groveling  superstition,  the  decep- 
tions of  lying  oracles,  and  the  base  rites  of  idol 


TKttbat  $ew  an&  Cbrtstian  ©we  Eacb  ©tber  49 

service ;  the  ambassadors  and  soldiers  of  Chris- 
tianity plunge  into  the  pestiferous  wilderness, 
wade  through  malarious  swamps,  penetrate  re- 
gions scorched  by  tropic  heat  or  blighted  by 
winter's  cold,  and  separated  from  friends  and 
exposed  to  enemies,  endure  revolting  sights, 
brave  the  assassin's  knife  and  the  tyrant's  dun- 
geon, and  pass  through  suffering  the  most  ex- 
cruciating to  mind  and  body." 

Let  us  now  ask,  Of  what  moral  value  to  the 
world  is  all  this  Christian  missionary  work  ?  Is 
it  worth  the  cost  ? 

Sir  Bartle  Frere,  whilst  governor  of  Bombay, 
wrote  regarding  the  beneficent  influence  of  mis- 
sionaries as  follows :  "  I  speak  simply  as  to  mat- 
ter of  experience  and  observation,  just  as  a  Ro- 
man prefect  might  have  reported  to  Trajan  or 
the  Antonines;  and  I  assure  you  that,  whatever 
may  be  told  to  the  contrary,  the  teachings  of 
Christianity  among  a  hundred  and  sixty  millions 
of  civilized,  industrious  Hindus  and  Mohamme- 
dans in  India  are  effecting  changes,  moral,  so- 
cial, and  political,  which,  for  extent  and  rapidity 
of  effect,  are  far  more  extraordinary  than  any- 
thing you  or  your  fathers  have  witnessed  in 
modern  Europe." 


so  wabat  3ew  anfc  Cbrtstian  ©we  JEacb  ©tber 

Dr.  Clafford,  in  his  book  on  "  Inspiration,"  re- 
lates the  following  incident: 

"  I  would  that  I  could  take  you  to  a  little  vil- 
lage near  my  station,  where  they  had  embraced 
Christianity  in  a  body  but  eight  months  be- 
fore, and  where  the  high  priest  of  the  temple 
nearby  came  secretly  to  me  in  my  tent  and 
asked : 

'  Sir,  will  you  please  impart  to[me  the  secret  ? 
What  is  it  that  makes  that  Bible  of  yours  have 
such  power  over  the  lives  of  those  that  embrace 
it?  Now  it  is  but  eight  months  since  the  peo- 
ple joined  you.  Before  they  were  quarrelsome ; 
they  were  riotous;  they  were  lazy;  they  were 
shiftless  .  .  .  and  now  see  what  a  difference 
there  is  in  them !  Now  they  are  active,  ener- 
getic, laborious.  They  never  drink ;  they  never 
quarrel. 

"  '  Why,  sir,  I  joined  in  the  persecution  when 
they  became  Christians  and  tried  to  stamp  out 
Christianity  before  it  gained  a  foothold  here; 
but  they  stood  firm;  and  now,  in  all  the  region 
around  here,  the  people  all  respect  and  honor 
them. 

"  '  What  is  it  that  makes  the  Bible  have  such 
a  power  over  the  lives  of  those  who  profess  it  ? 


Wbat  5ew  ant)  Gbristian  ©we  Eacb  ©tber  51 

Our  vedas  have  no  such  power.  Please,  sir, 
give  me  the  secret.' " 

Mr.  Moncure  D.  Conway,  after  visiting  India, 
wrote  as  follows : 

"  On  my  book-shelves,  you  will  find  copies  of 
all  the  sacred  books  of  the  East,  over  which  I 
have  pored  and  exulted  for  years.  The  noble 
aspirations  of  the  ancient  writers,  the  glowing 
poetry  of  the  vedas,  the  sublime  imagery  of  their 
seers,  have  become  part  of  my  life.  But  when 
I  went  to  the  great  cities  of  India,  the  pilgrim 
sites,  to  which  throng  every  year  millions  of 
those  who  profess  to  follow  the  faith  of  the  men 
who  wrote  those  books,  and  mingled  with  the 
vast  procession  of  worshipers  at  the  shrines 
sacred  to  the  deities,  whose  praises  are  sung  by 
the  Hindu  poets ;  then,  alas !  the  contrast  be- 
tween the  real  and  the  ideal  was  heart-breaking ! 
In  all  those  teeming  myriads  of  worshipers  not 
one  man,  not  even  one  woman,  seemed  to  enter- 
tain the  shadow  of  a  conception  of  anything 
moral,  or  spiritual,  or  religious,  or  even  myth- 
ological in  their  ancient  creed.  Not  one  glim- 
mer of  the  great  thoughts  of  their  poets  and 
sages  lightened  their  darkened  temples.  To  all 
of  them,  the  great  false  god  which  they  wor- 


52  TObat  Sew  an&  Cbrtgttan  ®we  Eacb  ®tber 

shiped  (a  hulk  of  roughly  carved  wood  or  stone) 

appeared  to  be  the  authentic  presentiment  of 

some  terrible  demon  or  invisible  power  who 

j      would  treat  them  cruelly  if  they  did  not  give 

*'  >  him  some  melted  butter.  Of  religion,  in  a 
spiritual  sense,  there  is  none.  If  you  wish  for 
religion,  you  will  not  find  it  in  Brahmanism." 

Here  and  there  under  heathenism  a  glorious 
character  such  as  that  of  Socrates  may  be  found, 
with  his  pure  and  high  morality ;  or  a  Marcus 
Aurelius,  whose  character  for  gentleness  and 
benevolence,  and  whose  love  of  mankind  make 
him  stand  out  in  bold  relief  as  among  the  great- 
est and  noblest  of  heathen;  or  an  Epictetus, 
whose  moral  philosophy  still  commands  wide- 
spread attention.  These,  however,  were  the 
v  rare  and  exalted  exceptions.  The  average  men 
and  women  living  under  heathen  influences  were 
low  and  degraded  in  their  thoughts,  and  their 
habits  of  life  were  filled  with  the  love  of  animal- 

N-*'*"v'v>\ ism  rather  than  with  the  spirit  of  morality  and 
righteousness.  To  appreciate  the  high  value  of 
Christian  civilization,  we  need  but  compare  the 
very  few  names  that  stand  for  morality  and 
righteousness  which  illumine  the  darkness  of 
the  thousands  of  years  of  heathenism  with  the 


Sew  an£>  Christian  ®we  Eacb  ®tber  53 

countless  names  that  stand  for  the  highest  mor- 
ality and  righteousness  that  belong  to  this  cen- 
tury alone.  Think  of  such  names  as  Herbert 
Spencer,  Darwin,  Matthew  Arnold,  Ruskin, 
Tolstoy,  Washington,  Jefferson,  Lincoln,  Glad- 
stone, Emerson,  Longfellow,  Peabody,  Peter 
Cooper,  George  W.  Childs,  Tennyson,  Whittier, 
Bryant,  Lowell,  Holmes,  Channing,  James  Free- 
man Clarke,  Grant,  Max  Muller,  Humboldt, 
Agassiz,  Phillips  Brooks,  Starr  King,  Living- 
stone, and  Stanley.  Think  of  these  and  the 
legions  of  others  whose  lives  were  open  books, 
whose  achievements  as  soldiers,  statesmen, 
poets,  authors,  philosophers,  scientists,  philan- 
thropists, preachers,  and  teachers,  have  left  a 
deep  imprint  on  their  own  generation  and  will 
influence  untold  generations  to  follow.'  Re- 
member that  these  were  not  only  men  of  deeds, 
but  men  filled  with  high  and  exalted  thoughts 
and  ideals,  whose  intense  love  for  humanity 
led  them  to  give  the  best  that  was  in  them 
for  the  benefit  and  the  welfare  of  mankind. 
The  few  names  mentioned  are  but  as  captains 
of  armies  of  men  and  women  dedicated  during 
this  one  century  to  high  thinking  and  pure  liv- 
ing. True,  that  some  of  these  are  looked  upon 


54  TKflbat  3ew  an&  Cbristian  ®\ve  Eacb  ©tber 

by  the  orthodox  Christian  church  as  dissenters 
or  non-believers,  but  all  of  them  were  neverthe- 
less reared  under  Christian  influence,  and  to 
£-(  ;the  spirit  of  Christianity  is  largely  due  the 
moral  power  these  noble  characters  have  sent 
forth. 

If  you  were  to  ask  the  most  pronounced 
atheist  or  the  keenest  enemy  of  Christianity 
whether  he  would  rather  live  and  rear  his  chil- 
dren under  heathen  influences,  such  as  existed 
before  the  Christian  era,  or  under  the  Christian 
influence  which  prevails  to-day,  what,  think  you, 
would  be  his  answer?  Unless  blinded  by  igno- 
rance or  unthinking  prejudice,  you  may  rest  as- 
sured that  he  would  look  upon  it  as  a  misfortune 
to  him  and  his  if  he  were  denied  the  privilege  of 
living  under  an  enlightened  Christian  civiliza- 
tion and  were  forced  to  exist  and  to  rear  his  off- 
spring, surrounded  by  heathenism  even  in  its 
highest  form. 

If  men  and  women  are  purer  to-day  than  in 
the  dark  days  of  the  past ;  if  animalism  has  been 
replaced  by  spirituality,  and  immorality  by  vir- 
tue, and  idolatry  by  godliness ;  if  man  has  been 
brought  not  only  nearer  to  man,  but  also  nearer 
to  God ;  if  the  world  to-day  is  better  than  the 


Wbat  3ew  anfr  Cbrtgttan  ®we  Bacb  @tber  55 

world  of  the  past,  no  little  of  all  this  is  due  to 
Christian  thought  and  to  Christian  effort.  Mod- 
ern civilization  owes  a  debt  to  Christianity  which 
it  can  never  repay.  The  inspired  Christian  men 
and  women  who  have  labored,  and  who  are  la- 
boring for  the  upbuilding  and  uplifting  of  the 
human  family,  are  civilization's  great  benefac- 
tors, and  the  world  has  been  made  better  and 
nobler  for  their  having  lived  in  it. 

But  whence  came  this  inspiration  that  edu- 
cated the  descendants  of  the  savage  Huns  who 
had  previously  lived  on  roots  and  half-raw  flesh 
of  animals;  what  led  the  descendants  of  the 
barbaric  Goths  and  Vandals,  who  at  one  time 
drank  mead  out  of  the  skulls  of  their  enemies, 
and  who  adored  the  sun,  moon,  and  fire  as 
deities;  or  the  descendants  of  the  piratical 
man-hunting  and  cruelly  ferocious  Anglo- 
Saxon  to  become  gentle,  kindly,  moral,  god- 
fearing Christian  men  and  women?  Need  it 
be  said  that  it  was  the  influence  of  the  teach- 
ings "  to  do  justice,  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk 
humbly  before  God,"  the  teachings  to  "love 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself,"  and  to  "  do  to  others 
as  you  would  have  others  do  unto  you  "  ? 

And  whence  did  the  Christian  get  these  teach- 


56  Mbat  3e\v  anfc  Gbristtau  <3>\ve  Bacb  Qtbei 

ings,  to  the  spreading  of  which  he  gave  his  heart, 
his  mind,  and  his  soul?  Need  it  be  stated  that 
all  these  noble  and  uplifting  thoughts  came  to 
the  Christian  from  the  great  book  of  books,  the 
Jewish  Bible? 

When  the  Christian  missionary  went  among 
the  heathen  and  the  pagan,  the  Franks  and  the 
Huns,  the  Goths  and  the  Vandals,  to  lead  them 
from  heathenism  to  monotheism,  from  man- 
worship  to  God-worship,  he  preached  to  them 
the  thoughts  and  the  ideas  of  Jewish  teachers 
and  preachers;  he  taught  them  the  songs  of 
David,  the  proverbs  of  Solomon,  and  the  com- 
mandments of  Moses;  he  implanted  in  their 
hearts  and  minds  the  teachings  of  Jesus  the  Jew 
and  Paul  the  Jew. 

Take  out  of  Christianity  the  contribution 
thereto  made  by  the  Jew,  take  out  of  it  the  Old 
.-  and  New  Testaments}  take  away  from  its  tradi- 
tions the  Jews,  Jesus,  Paul,  James,  Peter,  Mark, 
John,  Matthew,  and  their  wonderful  spiritual  in- 
fluence, and  all  that  remains  of  Christianity  is 
pure  heathenism. 

Can  you  begin  to  realize  the  debt  which  the 
Christian  owes  to  the  Jew?  Can  you  begin  to 
appreciate  the  deep  and  lasting  obligation  under 


Mbat  Sew  anfr  Cbrtsttan  ®we  Bacb  ®tber  57 

which  the  Christian  is  forever  placed  to  the  race 
which  stands  out  as  having  given  to  the  world 
its  greatest  preachers  and  its  foremost  moral 
teachers  ? 

Must  it  not  be  plain  that  when,  in  the  past, 
Christian  hearts  were  rilled  with  malice  and  » 
hatred  toward  the  Jew  that  their  minds  were 
befogged  and  beclouded,  and  when  their  souls 
were  filled  with  bitterness  and  enmity  toward 
the  Jew,  they  were  repaying  moral  gifts  and 
spiritual  bequests  with  base  ingratitude  ? 

Let  us  be  thankful  that  we  are  living  in  an  age 
when  the  debt  that  Christian  civilization  owes  to 
the  Jew  is  being  more  readily  acknowledged  and 
more  highly  appreciated,  and  that  such  appreci- 
ation on  the  part  of  the  Christian  is  bringing  Jew 
and  Christian  into  closer  touch  and  into  deeper 
harmony.  Let  us  feel  grateful  that  the  Chris- 
tian's interest  in  the  Jew  and  in  Judaism  is  being 
reciprocated  by  the  Jew's  deeper  interest  in  the 
Christian  and  in  Christianity ;  that  each  is  find- 
ing new  virtues  in  the  religious  beliefs  and  char- 
acter of  the  other,  and  that  the  children  of  the 
mother-religion  and  those  of  the  daughter  are 
thus  cultivating  for  each  other  a  higher  regard 
and  a  deeper  love. 


58  TlClbat  3ew  an£)  Cbrtgttan  ®\ve  Bacb 


May  God  in  his  wisdom  permit  this  holy  work 
to  go  on,  and  may  we  lend  our  humble  aid  to 
speed  the  day  when  Jew  and  Christian,  the  world 
over,  may  work  together  heart  to  heart  and  hand 
in  hand  for  all  things  that  tend  to  the  betterment 
of  the  human  family  and  to  the  spreading  of 
love,  justice,  and  righteousness. 

Thus  far  I  have  endeavored  to  point  out 
wherein  the  Christian  is  indebted  to  the  Jew;  in 
doing  so,  I  did  not  hesitate  to  lay  stress  upon 
the  deep  and  lasting  obligation  to  which  the 
Christian  of  the  past  and  the  present  is  indebted 
to  the  Jew.  I  emphasized  the  fact  that  all  that 
the  Christian  reveres  as  sacred  and  holy  ;  all  that 
he  bows  down  to  and  worships  ;  much  that  lifts 
him  above  the  low  and  degraded  moral  condi- 
tion of  his  more  remote  heathen  ancestry,  he 
owes  to  the  Jew.  But  the  obligation  is  far  from 
one-sided.  While  the  Jew  has  done  much  for 
the  Christian,  the  Christian  has  done  much  for 
the  Jew.  While  much  of  the  civilization  now 
enjoyed  by  our  Christian  brethren  is  due  to  the 
influence  of  the  Jewish  faith  and  the  Jewish 
teachings  absorbed  by  Christianity,  many  of  the 
blessings  of  Christian  civilization  have  likewise 
spread  their  influence  over  the  Jews,  and  have 


Wbat  3ew  an&  Gbristian  ©we  Bacb  ©tber  59 

in  turn  placed  them  under  deep  and  lasting  obli- 
gations to  the  Christian. 

Let  me  briefly  point  out  the  debt  the  Jew 
owes  the  Christian,  a  debt  which  the  Jew  should 
freely  acknowledge. 

God  had  chosen  from  among  all  peoples  a 
handful  of  Jews  to  become  his  torch-bearers  of 
moral  and  religious  truth.  They  little  realized 
when  the  burden  was  placed  upon  them  how 
grave  was  the  responsibility.  They  little 
dreamed  that  to  carry  this  torch  of  truth  through 
a  morally  dark  and  religiously  benighted  world 
meant  to  become  a  target  for  the  poisonous 
arrows  of  hatred  and  ill-will;  of  persecution 
and  martyrdom.  It  is  well  that  the  dangers,  the 
sorrows,  the  pain,  and  the  anguish  to  be  encoun- 
tered when  a  great  reform  is  to  begin  can  not 
be  foreseen.  Could  we  foresee  what  we  are  to 
undergo,  and  what  is  to  befall  us  while  striving 
to  achieve  an  undertaking,  how  often  would  we 
abandon  our  efforts,  frightened  and  discouraged ! 

When  Jonah  was  commanded  by  God  to  arise 
and  to  go  unto  Nineveh  and  cry  against  it  be- 
cause of  its  wickedness,  fearing  the  grave  re? 
sponsibility  and  heavy  burden  this  would  place 
upon  him,  he  arose  and  fled  from  before  God, 


60  Mbat  3ew  an&  Gbrtsttan  0\vc  Eacb  ®tber 

and,  instead  of  going  to  Nineveh,  went  to  Joppa 
and  engaged  passage  on  a  ship  going  to  Tar- 
shish.  So,  too,  with  the  Jew.  If  he  could  have 
foreseen  the  centuries  of  suffering  and  sorrow, 
the  scorn,  the  contumely,  the  execration,  and  the 
living  hell  to  which  his  mission  was  to  subject 
him,  how  earnestly,  like  Jonah,  might  he  have 
fled  in  fear  and  in  dismay  from  the  heavy  task 
to  be  laid  upon  him. 

When  the  Jews  accepted  the  Ten  Command- 
ments from  the  hands  of  Moses  and  dedicated 
themselves  to  their  observance,  how  little  did 
they  foresee  the  potent  influences  which  these 
commandments  would  have  on  coming  ages; 
that  the  faithful  and  unyielding  observance  of 
the  commandment,  "  Thou  shalt  have  no  other 
God  before  me,"  would  for  countless  generations 
make  of  them  a  separate  and  peculiar  people, 
and,  for  long  periods  of  time,  make  life  for  them 
an  existence  of  torture.  For  hundreds  of  years, 
beginning  with  the  Exodus  and  down  to  the 
Christian  era,  the  Jews,  as  a  rule,  not  only  en- 
deavored to  observe  the  decalog  and  worship 
the  one  and  only  God,  but  they  aimed  to  culti- 
vate all  the  other  truths  transmitted  to  them  by 
Moses  more  faithfully  than  did  any  other  people. 


TKttbat  3ew  an&  Cbrfstfan  ©we  Bacb  ©tber  61 

Out  of  fear  of  contamination  with  the  idol- 
atrous peoples  by  whom  they  were  surrounded 
the  Jews  became  most  exclusive  in  their  spirit. 
They  neither  went  out  to  invite  others  to  share 
their  spiritual  joys,  nor  did  they  even  extend 
open  arms  to  those  who,  of  their  own  accord, 
knocked  for  admission  at  the  doors  of  Judaism. 
On  the  contrary,  converts  were  in  every  way  dis- 
couraged by  the  placing  of  heavy  burdens  upon 
them,  by  subjecting  them  to  the  observance  of 
rigid  forms  and  ceremonies,  by  compelling  them 
to  undergo  the  painful  rite  of  circumcision,  and 
by  cutting  them  off  from  association  with  all 
their  former  friends  and  relatives.  So  exacting 
and  unbending  did  the  Jews  become  in  their 
faith,  so  futile  did  all  attempts  prove  on  the  part 
of  their  various  conquerors  to  alter,  or  modify 
even  in  a  small  degree  their  belief  that  the  title 
of  "the  stiff-necked  race"  has  clung  to  them 
through  all  these  centuries  of  sorrow  and  tribu- 
lation. 

History  records  that  Antiochus  Epiphanes, 
the  Syrian  tyrant,  issued  a  decree  commanding 
the  people  of  Judea  to  renounce  the  law  of  their 
God  and  to  offer  sacrifices  to  the  Greek  gods. 
Altars  and  idols  were  to  be  erected  everywhere 


62  Mbat  3ew  a^  Gbristian  ©we  Eacb  ©tber 

for  that  purpose,  and  unclean  animals,  particu- 
larly swine,  were  to  be  used  at  the  sacrifices. 
The  temple  in  Jerusalem,  the  only  place  of  holi- 
ness then  on  earth,  was  thoroughly  desecrated, 
and  the  God  of  Israel  was  apparently  unseated 
by  the  Hellenic  Zeus.  It  was  a  crime,  under  this 
decree,  to  practise  Judaism.  Death  threatened 
all  who  refused  to  obey  the  emperor's  decree. 
But  death  lost  its  terrors.  Despite  the  fact 
that  the  officers  of  Antiochus  killed  those  who 
were  found  even  reading  the  Jewish  law,  and 
hanged  Jewish  women  with  their  babes  on  the 
walls  of  the  city  when  they  found  that  the  chil- 
dren had  been  circumcised,  the  Jews  refused  to 
yield  or  to  abandon  their  faith,  rose  in  rebellion 
against  the  mighty  and  despotic  conqueror,  and 
under  the  guidance  of  the  family  of  the  Macca- 
bees vanquished  the  great  army  of  Antiochus 
and  regained  their  national  independence,  and 
the  privilege  of  worshiping  their  God  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  dictates  of  their  conscience. 

Again,  under  the  reign  of  the  Romans  the 
Emperor  Caligula,  addressing  the  Judean  envoys 
to  Rome  said:  "So  you  are  the  despisers  of 
God,  who  will  not  recognize  me  as  the  deity, 
but  who  prefer  worshiping  a  nameless  one, 


Mbat  3evv  anfc  Cbristian  ©we  Eacb  ©tber  63 

whilst  all  my  other  subjects  have  accepted  me 
as  their  god."  His  determination  to  introduce 
statues  of  himself  into  the  temple  of  Jerusalem 
led  thousands  of  Jews  to  declare  they  would 
rather  suffer  the  penalty  of  death  than  allow 
their  temple  to  be  thus  desecrated. 

Had  there  been  no  break  in  the  ranks  of 
Judaism,  the  Jews,  despite  their  dispersion 
throughout  the  world,  would  have  continued  to 
observe  the  rites  of  their  faith  and  to  cling  relig- 
iously to  their  traditions ;  and  all  the  truth  and 
the  pure,  uplifting  teachings  of  Judaism  would 
have  remained  confined  to  the  sprinkling  of 
Jews,  while  the  rest  of  the  world  would  quite 
likely  have  continued  to  remain  morally  and  j^, 
spiritually  benighted. 

But  God  has  willed  it  otherwise.  It  was  evi- 
dent J^kovah  felt  that  the  hour  was  at  hand 
when  the  teachings  and  beliefs  of  the  great  fam- 
ily of  man  should  become  widely  spread;  and 
so  Jesus  was  chosen  as  the  messenger  to  create 
a  renewed  spiritual  wave,  if  only  among  a  hand- 
ful of  disciples,  who  were  to  reaffirm  the  truths 
and  utterances  taught  and  preached  by  the 
earlier  prophets  in  Judea.  Among  these  disci- 
ples, the  great  apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  Paul,  who 


64  TRflbat  3ew  anfc  Cbristian  ©we  Eacb  ©tber 


broke  out  on  the  world's  religious  firmament  as 
a  bright  and  glittering  star,  had  been  chosen  to 
perform  a  great  and  heroic  work  for  Judaism 
and  for  the  world. 

I  must  here  content  myself  with  saying  that 
it  was  Paul's  broad  cosmopolitanism  that  gave 
Christianity  to  the  world.  It  was  his  far-seeing 
and  high-thinking  mind  which  enabled  him  bet- 
ter to  appreciate  the  priceless  value  to  humanity 
of  the  truths  held  sacred  by,  and  confined  to, 
the  Jews.  It  was  Paul's  genius  which  conceived 
the  idea  of  breaking  away  from  the  encrusted 
traditions  of  the  Jew,  and  going  forth  to  convert 
the  Gentile  ;  to  give  his  strength  and  his  heart, 
his  mind  and  his  soul  to  uplift  his  brethren  out- 
side of  his  faith,  and  to  bring  them  nearer  to  the 
God  of  Israel.  He  saw  clearly  that  the  Jews 
were  preaching  universal  truths,  but  made  no 
effort  to  disseminate  them.  He  realized  that 
for  the  faith  of  his  fathers  to  accomplish  its  high 
purpose  there  must  be  teaching  and  preaching 
among  non-believers  and  in  foreign  lands  ;  and 
so,  alone  and  unaided  except  for  the  presence 
and  help  of  God,  he  set  out  on  his  heroic  task, 
preaching  the  beautiful  Jewish  utterances  set 
forth  by  Jesus,  whom  he  had  accepted  as  his 


Tldbat  3ew  an&  Cbristian  ©we  Eacb  ©tbet  65 

Master.  Thus  Paul  began  a  missionary  work 
that  in  time  revolutionized  the  religious  spirit 
of  the  world,  and  which  is  destined  to  continue 
moving  onward  as  long  as  civilization  shall  stand. 
The  heathen  world  for  centuries  had  been 
waiting  for  Paul's  missionary  work.  Heathen- 
ism in  all  its  various  phases  had  utterly  failed 
to  satisfy  the  human  hearts  that  were  yearning 
and  thirsting  after  a  pure,  lofty,  and  spiritual 
belief.  The  souls  of  men,  through  paganism 
and  idolatry,  had  been  deadened  and  their  J. 
moral  sense  stunted.  Their  lives,  from  the 
cradle  to  the  grave,  were  most  selfish  and  thor- 
oughly materialistic.  Here  was  the  long-sought- 
for  spiritual  balm  brought  to  their  very  doors 
by  Paul,  who  taught  that  the  meanest  among 
them  had  a  soul  which  was  precious  in  the  eyes 
of  the  one  and  only  God,  who  was  above  all  and 
for  all.  It  was  Paul  who  was  the  first  to  give 
the  heathen  object-lessons  of  the  Jewish  spirit 
by  his  own  unselfish  life,  and  to  teach,  in  the 
spirit  of  his  Master,  that  love  is  greater  than 
hate,  that  kindness,  and  forgiveness,  and  peace, 
and  humility,  must  fill  the  human  heart  before 
happiness  can  be  attained  in  this  world  or  in 

the  world  to  come. 
5 


66  Wbat  3ew  anfc  Cbristian  Owe  jeacb  ©tber 

Is  it  surprising  that  the  parched  and  dried- 
up  soul  of  the  heathen  should  have  greedily 
drunk  in  these  beautiful  truths  which,  tho  old 
and  familiar  to  the  Jew,  were  entirely  new  to 
the  heathen?  Is  it  surprising  that  Christian 
churches  should  have  sprung  up  wherever  Paul 
preached,  and  that  these  churches  should  have 
grown,  expanded,  and  developed  until,  in  the 
course  of  time,  they  became  so  formidable  that 
Rome  (then  the  great  empire  of  the  world) 
found  it  wise  to  adopt  Christianity  as  its  state 
religion  ? 

I  can  not  hope  here  to  give  even  a  sketch  of 
the  wonderful  achievements  of  this  great  relig- 
ion of  Christianity ;  how  its  martyrs  suffered  at 
the  stake  for  their  faith,  how  its  priests  encircled 
the  globe  if  only  to  save  one  soul ;  how  its  friars 
went  from  place  to  place  shoeless  and  bare- 
headed, and  lived  on  crusts  and  suffered  hun- 
ger, thirst,  and  pain  while  teaching  and  uplift- 
ing the  spiritually  oppressed  and  the  morally 
forsaken ;  how  its  sisters  of  mercy  gave  their 
health  and  strength,  their  hearts  and  minds  to 
the  suffering  and  sorrowful,  to  the  sick  and 
the  needy,  to  the  aged  and  the  feeble.  Gen- 
eration after  generation  armies  of  men  and 


Mbat  3ew  anfc  Cbristian  ©we  Bacb  ©tber  67 

women  consecrated  themselves  to  their  holy 
religion,  and  lived  and  suffered  and  died  un- 
known and  obscure  deaths,  while  faithfully  and 
heroically  striving  to  do  their  Master's  work. 
If  the  Christian  men  and  women  who,  during 
all  of  the  past  centuries,  led  pure  and  holy  lives 
and  sacrificed  themselves  for  the  welfare  of  their 
fellows  could  be  marshaled  in  procession,  they 
would  form  a  line  which  would  many  times  en- 
circle the  globe. 

During  all  these  centuries,  a  most  industrious 
work  was  carried  on  in  spreading  the  Jewish 
Bible,  its  teachings,  and  its  influences  into  every 
nook  and  corner  of  the  world.  The  teachings 
of  Moses,  the  Psalms  of  David,  the  Proverbs  of 
Solomon,  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah,  the  precepts 
of  Micah,  the  pathetic  utterances  of  the  patient 
Job,  all  became  household  words  in  huts,  in 
caves,  and  in  palaces.  The  God  of  Israel,  who 
for  hundreds  of  years  had  been  the  God  of  a 
trjbe,  of  a  petty  race,  became  the  God  of  hun- 
dreds of  millions.  The  Ten  Commandments, 
which  from  the  time  of  Moses  to  the  time  of 
Jesus  had  influenced  a  handful  of  God's  chil- 
dren, were  taught  and  preached  and  spread  by 
Christian  missionaries  until  they  affected  for 


68  TKflbat  3ew  an&  Gbristian  ©we  Eacb  ©tber 

good  the  lives  of  untold  generations,  living  in 
all  climes  and  belonging  to  all  races  of  men. 

The  moral  and  religious  seeds  which  the  Jew 
had  placed  in  the  hand  of  the  Christian  were 
taken  by  the  latter  and  scattered  to  the  remotest 
corners  of  the  world,  and  implanted  into  the 
waiting  hearts  of  heathen  and  pagan,  of  savage 
and  barbarian,  of  master  and  slave.    Nor  has 
this  work  ceased.     On  the  contrary,  it  is  yet  in 
earliest  infancy.    More  Christian  men  and 
women  are  dedicated  to-day  to  the  spreading  of 
-A/^ajcnowledge  of  the  Bible  among  the  heathen 
and  the  untutored  than  ever  before  in  the  his- 
•'tory  of  Christianity.    More  money  is  being  con- 
f*         ""  tributed  to  the  cause  of  missionary  work  than 
'      was  ever  before  known  in  the  Christian  era. 

ere  is  a  brief  statement  of  what  has  been 


).%  in  this  direction  in  more  recent  years: 
"  The  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  in  its 
current  report  gives  its  total  issues  of  the  Bible 
at  one  hundred  and  thirty-one  million,  eight 
hundred  and  fourteen  thousand,  seven  hundred 
and  ninety-six,  and  those  of  other  kindred  or- 
ganizations at  eighty  million,  eight  hundred  and 
eighty-nine  thousand,  two  hundred  and  one. 
Here,  then,  we  have  more  than  two  hundred 


TTClbat  Sew  anfc  Cbrtetian  ©we  Eacb  ©tber  69 

and  twelve  million  copies  of  the  Bible  sent  out 
annually  all  over  the  world,  a  large  portion  go- 
ing to  the  front,  where  soldiers  of  the  cross  are 
in  direct  and  fierce  conflict  with  heathen  peo- 
ples. No  statistics  can  adequately  express  the 
influence  of  this  widely  disseminated  book  in 
the  dark  places  of  the  earth.  Not  alone,  how- 
ever, must  the  success  of  this  work  be  judged 
by  these  figures,  but  by  its  acknowledged  phil- 
anthropic and  humanizing  effects.  It  has  re- 
duced the  speech  of  savages  to  written  lan- 
guages, has  translated  the  Bible  into  almost 
every  spoken  tongue,  and  has  thus  opened  the 
way  for  the  intellectual  development  of  races 
that  have  been  deadened  for  ages.  Moreover, 
it  has  been  the  direct  cause  of  emancipation  of 
millions  of  slaves ;  it  has  proclaimed  the  equality 
of  mankind ;  it  has  forever  quenched  the  Suttee 
fires,  which  for  centuries  disgraced  India;  it  has 
suppressed  infanticide;  measurably  overcome 
polygamy ;  rung  the  knell  of  caste,  and  has  in 
the  very  recent  past  civilized  such  peoples  as 
the  Fijians,  Tahitians,  and  the  inhabitants  of 
Madagascar  and  the  Sandwich  Islands." 

Compare  all  this  with  what  the  Jew  is  doing 
toward  spreading  the  influence  of  his  faith  and 


7°  TOftbat  3ew  anfc  Cbrtetian  ©we  Bacb  ©tber 

his  Book  of  books  and  note  how  severely  he 
suffers  by  contrast. 

I  received  recently  a  letter  from  a  prominent 
Eastern  rabbi  and  this  is  what  he  wrote: 
"  Who  publishes  the  Bibles  to-day?  The  Chris- 
tian. Who  reads  them  ?  The  Christian.  Who 
is  willing  to  sacrifice  an  entire  day  each  week 
for  worship  and  spirituality?  The  Christian. 
Who  shows  reverence,  awe,  respect,  decorum, 
and  silence  in  the  house  of  worship?  It  is  '  the 
Israelite  of  the  spirit,'  whom  I  call  Christian." 

The  Jew  ever  has  enjoyed  and  still  continues 
to  feel  a  self-satisfied  air  regarding  his  religious 
teachings.  As  a  rule,  he  seems  to  think  that 
they  need  no  spreading  and  that  these  teachings 
must  of  their  own  accord  disseminate  them- 
selves. 

If  the  Jew  believes  that  his  teachings  are  of 
value  to  mankind,  if  he  holds  that  his  Bible  is  a 
boon  to  the  human  family,  he  must  feel  a  keen 
appreciation  of  the  Christian's  heroic  labor  in 
spreading  its  teachings. 

The  Jew  has  many  grievances  to  lay  at  the 
door,  not  of  Christianity,  but  of  perverted  Chris- 
tianity. While  perverted  Christianity  practises 
intolerance,  hatred,  cruelty,  injustice,  and  ill- 


Mbat  3e\v  anfc  Cbristtan  ©we  Eacb  ©tber  7 1 

will,  Christianity,  pure  and  simple,  in  common 
with  pure  and  simple  Judaism,  teaches  love,  hu- 
mility, kindness,  justice,  peace,  and  good-will. 
The  Jew  to-day  enjoys  many  blessings  for  which 
he  is  indebted  to  pure  and  enlightened  Chris- 
tianity. Despite  all  the  misery  and  suffering 
and  oppression  which  in  some  parts  of  the  world 
still  prevail,  he  lives  in  an  age  better,  purer*.,  <-? 
nobler  than  any  in  which  his  ancestors  lived. 
Despite  the  fact  that  much  of  the  Christianity 
which  is  about  us  is  still  perverted,  the  oppor- 
tunities of  the  Jew  for  mental,  moral,  religious, 
and  material  progress  were  never  so  grand  in 
all  the  centuries  of  his  existence.  And  for  all 
these  blessings  he  is  indebted,  in  no  small  de- 
gree, to  the  influence  of  pure  Christianity.  Let 
the  Jew  therefore  realize  that  however  much  the 
Christian  owes  to  him,  his  debt  to  the  Christian 
is  equally  deep  and  lasting. 

Jew  and  Christian  have  been  necessary  to 
each  other.  One  without  the  other  could  not 
have  achieved  ^he  wondrous  ^vor£  which  both 
have  performed  in  the  interest  and  for  the  wel- 
fare  of  humanity. 

Without  Judaism,  Christianity  would  have 
had  no  foundation.  Without  Christianity,  the 


72  TJdbat  $cw  an&  Gbristtan  ©we  Eacb  ©tbev 

spirit  of  Judaism  would  have  wielded  no  uni- 
versal influence.  Had  there  been  no  Christian- 
ity, Jesus,  together  with  Paul,  and  his  other 
apostles,  would  have  remained  obscure  and 
unknown,  and  the  spiritual  blessings  which, 
through  their  influence,  were  to  spread  through- 
k<»*/"l  jo11  out  the  world,  would  aever  ha*ej)££n  enjoyed 
by  the  human  family. 

It  should  be  a  source  of  no  little  pride  to  the 
Jew  that  his  was  the  race  to  give  to  Christianity 
its  Master  and  Savior,  its  noblest  teachings  and 
commandments,  its  holy  apostles  and  self-sacri- 
ficing missionaries.  How  great  should  be  the 
satisfaction  of  the  Jew  to  feel  that  the  blood  of 
his  blood,  the  flesh  of  his  flesh,  has  proven  so 
great  a  moral  and  spiritual  blessing  to  hundreds 
of  millions  of  his  fellow  creatures. 

The  Jew  must  not  look  upon  Christianity  as 
an  effort  to  pervert  Judaism,  but  rather  as  an 
effort  on  the  part  of  Paul  and  his  followers  to 
take  the  heathen  of  the  past  ages  and  step  by 
step  bring  him  nearer  and  closer  to  the  spirit 
of  Judaism,  and  to  the  spirit  of  its  God. 

The  Christian  owes  much  to  the  Jew,  the  Jew 
owes  much  to  the  Christian.  Let  each  fully  and 
deeply  recognize  the  debt  he  owes  to  the  other. 


Mbat  Jew  anfc  Gbrtstian  ©we  Easb  ©tber  73 

Let  the  Christian  go  on  bravely,  earnestly,  faith- 
fully fulfilling  his  broad  and  holy  mission.  Let 
him  continue  to  spread  the  seeds  of  morality 
and  righteousness  where  ignorance  and  degra- 
dation prevail,  where  idolatry  enslaves  the  mind, 
and  where  unbelief  is  a  hindrance  and  stumbling- 
block  to  spiritual  development. 

Let  the  Jew  do  his  fullest  share  in  aiding 
these  good  works,  and  let  him  not  rest  content 
until,  in  the  language  of  Zangwill, "  His  mission 
shall  have  been  fulfilled,  when  all  Christians 
shall  have  been  converted  to  the  observance  of 
the  pure  and  lofty  teachings  of  their  Lord  and 
Master,  the  humbly  born  and  devout  Jew,  Jesus 
of  Nazareth." 


10  tye  #te&Jiaty  get  to  Come? 


Ill 

IS  THE  MESSIAH  YET   TO  COME? 

THE  evening  of  evenings,  which,  as  a  boy,  I 
looked  forward  to,  with  interest  and  pleasure, 
was  that  of  the  Sedar,  celebrated  on  the  eve  of 
the  Passover. 

Preparations  were  made  for  weeks  in  the 
home  for  this  important  event,  and  for  many 
days  the  household  was  unsettled,  and  a  stranger 
could  readily  see  that  something  uncommon  was 
about  to  take  place.  House-cleaning  became 
the  order  of  the  day.  Every  nook  and  corner 
of  the  home  was  cleansed  and  ransacked  and 
every  particle  of  leavened  bread  removed.  The 
dishes  and  cooking-utensils,  used  throughout  the 
year,  were  carefully  stored  away,  and  those  re- 
served for  the  days  of  Passover  were  brought 
out  from  their  hiding-place.  The  interest  of 
the  household  was  centered  in  the  Sedar  festiv- 
ity, on  which  occasion  the  table  was  decorated 
with  the  best  the  home  could  afford.  Whatever 
of  plate,  whatever  of  candelabra,  whatever  of 


78          fg  tbe  /Pegglab  jget  to  Come? 

fine  linen  and  glassware  was  in  the  possession 
of  the  family,  was  made  use  of  on  this  state 
occasion. 

The  table,  in  its  holiday  glory,  laden  with  un- 
leavened cakes  and  the  mysterious  dishes  in- 
tended for  Passover  symbols,  was  surrounded 
by  all  the  members  of  the  family,  dressed  in 
their  best;  while  the  master  of  the  house,  recli- 
ning on  soft  pillows  and  robed  in  his  shroud  of 
pure  white,  read  the  story  of  Israel's  exodus 
from  Egypt,  their  miraculous  crossing  of  the 
Red  Sea,  their  wonderful  escape  from  their  ene- 
mies, and  the  final  destruction  of  their  Egyptian 
pursuers. 

To  me,  as  a  boy,  the  service,  the  surroundings, 
and  the  family  board,  with  its  unusual  decora- 
tions and  its  many  mysterious  dishes,  were  all 
of  profound  interest.  On  the  table  was  a  dish 
of  parsley,  the  latter  to  be  dipped  at  the  proper 
time  into  salt-water  and  distributed  to  every 
one  at  the  table,  and  eaten  after  repeating  a 
certain  prayer  praising  God  as  the  Creator  of 
the  fruit  of  the  earth.  Another  dish  was  near- 
by containing  three  unleavened  cakes,  the  shank 
bone  of  the  shoulder  of  lamb,  and  an  egg,  both 
previously  roasted  on  coals.  The  two  latter  in 


Is  tbe  /iDessiab  l£et  to  Come?         79 

the  course  of  the  evening's  service  were  re- 
moved, and  all  laying  hold  of  the  dish  said: 
"  This  is  the  bread  of  affliction  eaten  by  our 
ancestors  in  the  land  of  Egypt,"  inviting  all 
who  were  hungry  to  enter  and  eat  thereof  and 
to  celebrate  with  them  the  Passover. 

Distributed  over  the  long  table  were  numer- 
ous decanters  of  unfermented  Passover  wine, 
which  refreshed  but  did  not  intoxicate,  and 
which  were  used  to  frequently  fill  the  glasses  as 
the  ceremony  progressed.  Later  in  the  service, 
and  after  the  first  washing  of  hands,  the  master 
of  the  house  lifted  the  unleavened  cake  in  the 
dish,  and,  showing  it  to  the  company  present, 
said :  "  These  leavened  cakes,  wherefore  do  we 
eat  of  them  ?  Because  there  was  not  sufficient 
time  for  the  dough  of  our  ancestors  to  leaven 
when  they  were  thrust  out  of  Egypt,"  after  which 
the  master  of  the  house  pointing  to  the  greens 
of  horseradish  in  another  dish,  said :  "  This 
bitter  herb,  wherefore  do  we  eat  it?  Because 
the  Egyptians  embittered  the  lives  of  our  ances- 
tors in  Egypt  with  cruel  bondage."  Then  fol- 
lowed the  breaking  of  two  unleavened  cakes — 
every  one  at  table  receiving  a  piece  of  each— 
which  were  eaten  after  the  reciting  of  a  prayer 


8o          is  tbe  flDesstab  ]0et  to  Come  ? 

praising  God  as  the  King  of  the  universe  who 
brings  forth  bread  from  the  earth. 

The  master  of  the  house  then  took  from 
another  dish  some  bitter  herbs,  dipped  them 
into  a  mixture  of  almond  and  apples  worked  up 
to  the  consistence  of  mortar,  and,  passing  a  por- 
tion to  each  one  present,  recited  a  benediction 
praising  God  for  sanctifying  Israel  with  the  com- 
mandment to  eat  bitter  herbs. 

Then  came  the  eating  of  horseradish,  which 
was  partaken  of  by  the  master  and  all  present ; 
a  small  portion  of  the  same  being  placed  be- 
tween two  parts  of  unleavened  cakes  and  passed 
around  to  each  and  eaten  after  all  had  repeated 
the  Talmudical  statement  of  the  pascal  arrange- 
ments according  to  Hillel,  who,  during  the 
time  of  the  Temple,  on  the  festival  of  Passover 
did  likewise  eat  bitter  herbs  with  unleavened 
cakes. 

All  these  ceremonies  were  ever  of  profound 
interest  to  me  as  a  boy,  but  by  far  the  most 
interesting,  if  not  most  thrilling,  feature  of 
the  feast  was  the  filling  of  the  great  cup  with 
unfermented  wine  dedicated  to  the  Prophet 
Elijah,  and  the  opening  of  the  door  to  admit 
of  his  mysterious  and  invisible  presence  sym- 


•ffs  tbe  /iDessiab  13et  to  (Tome?         81 

bolical  of  Israel's  hope  of  the  appearance  of 
Elijah  to  announce  the  coming  of  the  Mes- 
siah. 

I  remember  with  what  profound  and  naive 
interest  I  watched  Elijah's  cup  of  wine,  and  how, 
in  my  nervous  excitement,  I  imagined  that  dur- 
ing the  brief  moment  while  the  Messianic  prayer 
was  being  recited,  I  saw  the  wine  growing  some- 
what less  as  the  lips  of  the  imaginary  Elijah 
were  being  pressed  to  the  cup. 

Very  few  Jews  living  in  this  age,  and  espe- 
cially in  this  country,  can  appreciate  the  hope 
and  the  comfort,  the  joy  and  the  satisfaction, 
that  this  faith  and  sincere  belief  in  the  coming 
of  a  personal  Messiah  brought  to  the  hearts  and 
minds  of  the  oppressed  and  the  persecuted  in 
Israel  during  all  the  ages  of  his  national  mis- 
fortunes while  yet  in  Judea  and  during  the  cen- 
turies of  suffering  to  which  he  has  been  sub- 
jected since  his  dispersion.  It  was  this  faith 
and  this  hope  in  the  regeneration  of  their  peo- 
ple that  gave  the  Jews  the  courage,  the  fortitude, 
and  the  strength  to  bear  sorrows  and  burdens, 
calamities  and  misfortunes,  such  as  would  have 
caused  most  peoples  to  succumb. 

At  no  period  in  their  national  history  were 
6 


$2          IB  tbe  flDessiab  H)et  to  Come  ? 

the  Jews  more  ready  to  welcome  a  personal 
Messiah  than  during  the  time  of  Jesus. 

For  decades,  they  had  been  living  under  Ro- 
man rule.  Their  political  independence  was 
gone.  They  were  mere  vassals  of  Rome  and 
were  under  the  complete  control  of  the  Roman 
governor  and  his  horde  of  soldiers.  The  tribute 
exacted  from  them  by  Rome  was  a  heavy  bur- 
den, under  which  they  groaned  and  chafed,  but 
to  which,  at  the  point  of  the  sword,  they  had  to 
submit.  Their  hearts  yearned  and  longed  for 
a  deliverer  who  would  release  them  from  the 
hated  Roman  yoke  and  once  more  give  them 
their  national  independence. 

For  a  brief  period,  the  coming  of  Jesus 
brought  hope  and  faith  and  joy  to  some  Jewish 
hearts.  Here  they  believed  was  the  long- 
looked-for  Messiah  who,  by  his  power  and  his 
divine  favor,  would  drive  out  the  enemy  from 
the  land  and  reestablish  the  kingdom  of  David. 
Judea  at  that  time  was  divided  into  two  political 
camps.  The  conservative  party,  realizing  the 
military  feebleness  of  the  people  of  Judea  and 
the  utter  hopelessness  of  attempting  a  rebellion, 
counseled  submission  to  Rome.  The  radicals, 
which  included  the  hot-headed  and  more  adven- 


fs  tbe  flDessfab  JUet  to  Come?         83 

turous  spirits,  known  as  the  zealots,  advocated 
rebellion,  and  cursed  those  who  paid  tribute  to 
the  Roman  tax-gatherers,  denouncing  them  as 
traitors  to  Judea. 

The  radicals  hailed  Jesus  as  their  political  de- 
liverer, and  proclaimed  him  the  King  of  the 
Jews.  But  the  zealots  were  incensed  at  his 
doctrine  to  render  unto  Caesar  the  things  which 
are  Caesar's,  thus  advising  submission  to  Ro- 
man rule  and  the  payment  of  tribute  to  Rome. 
Jesus,  in  common  with  the  conservatives,  real- 
ized the  utter  hopelessness  of  any  attempt  by 
the  people  of  Judea  to  rebel  against  Rome.  He 
knew  full  well  that  such  attempt  must  end,  as  it 
did  forty  years  later,  in  the  utter  destruction 
of  Jerusalem  and  in  the  bloody  and  relentless 
massacre  of  the  Jewish  people.  He  therefore 
preached  to  them  a  kingdom,  but  not  an  earthly 
one.  He  spoke  in  most  beautiful  terms  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  and  urged  upon  his  hear- 
ers so  to  live  that  they  might  inherit  it.  He 
said :  "  Lay  not  up  for  yourselves  treasures 
upon  earth,  where  moth  and  rust  doth  corrupt 
and  where  thieves  break  through  and  steal. 
But  lay  up  for  yourselves  treasures  in  heav- 
en, where  neither  moth  nor  rust  doth  corrupt 


84         Is  tbe  fl&essiab  10et  to  Come? 

and  where  thieves  do  not  break  through  nor 
steal." 

Beautiful  as  were  these  teachings,  they  did 
not  seem  to  appeal  to  the  mind  of  the  ignorant 
and  the  unthinking  who  followed  him.  They 
were  not  in  a  frame  of  mind  to  grasp  and  to 
comprehend  a  far-off  and  distant  kingdom  in  the 
realm  of  the  spiritual.  They  knew  and  felt  only 
the  needs  of  the  present.  They  were  oppressed 
and  were  in  the  hands  of  the  national  enemy, 
and  they  yearned  for  relief.  They  wanted  a 
leader,  and  a  political  redeemer,  who  would 
drive  out  the  hated  Roman  and  once  more  es- 
tablish their  temporal  kingdom. 

It  was  this  thought,  this  desire,  this  spirit, 
that  prompted  them,  as  Jesus  rode  into  Jeru- 
salem on  that  fatal  day  before  the  Passover,  to 
cry  out :  "  Blessed  be  the  King  that  cometh  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord."  His  silent  acquiescence 
in  the  cry  hailing  him  as  the  King  of  the  Jews 
subjected  him  to  the  charge  of  treason  to 
Rome.  It  was  upon  this  charge  that  he  was 
finally  convicted  before  Pilate  and  crucified  by 
the  Romans,  in  accordance  with  the  Roman 
law. 

With  the  death  of  Jesus,  aside  from  the  hand- 


tbe  flDessiab  H>et  to  dome  ? 


ful  of  disciples  who  still  clung  to  his  memory  as 
that  of  the  Messiah,  those  who  had  looked  upon 
him  as  their  political  redeemer  lost,  for  the 
time  being,  faith  and  hope.  They  awaited  the 
coming  of  another  leader  who  should,  by  driv- 
ing out  the  Roman  hordes,  prove  in  verity  to  be 
their  kingly  redeemer  and  bring  back  to  them 
their  national  independence. 

Not  so  were  the  more  educated  and  enlight- 
ened among  the  Jews  who  lived  in  the  time  o 


Jesus.    These  did  not  look  for  a  personal  mes- 
siah.    They  read  the  utterances  of  the  prophet 
Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  and  Micah  as  pointing  to  cer 
tain  moral  effects,  as  the  result  of  certain  mora 
causes.    These  prophets,  as  they  were  callec 
were  purely  moral  teachers ;  neither  soothsayer 
nor  fortune-tellers.     They  seemed  to  have 
divine  grasp  of  the  laws  of  moral  cause  anc 
effect.    They  were  able  to  warn  and  to  forete 
that  certain  immoral  causes  must  bring  ruin  anc 
disaster. 

Hillel,  the  philosopher  and  teacher  of  Jerusa- 
lem, Philo,  the  Jewish  historian  and  philosopher 
of  Alexandria,  as  well  as  the  other  educated  and 
enlightened  among  the  Jews,  looked  forward  not 
to  the  coming  of  a  personal  deliverer  or  a  divine 


86          f  g  tbe  /Pegslab  3i)et  to  gome  ? 

Messiah,  but  for  a  messianic  age,  for  an  ideal 
condition  of  society,  a  condition  of  universal 
progress  and  peace.  With  them  it  was  a  hope 
for  a  good  time  coming,  not  for  the  Jews  alone, 
but  for  the  human  family.  It  was  a  hope  for  a 
moral  exaltation  first  of  Israel  then  of  mankind, 
rather  than  a  regal  dynasty.  The  narrow  hope 
of  the  one-sided  Jews  was  that  of  the  restoration 
of  the  throne,  and  of  the  political  independence 
of  Israel.  The  broader  hope  of  the  thoughtful 
and  the  enlightened  was  that  of  a  reign  of  uni- 
versal peace. 

The  same  broad  hope  of  a  messianic  age 
fills  the  mind  of  the  enlightened  thoughtful  Jew 
of  to-day.  He  no  longer  looks  for  the  restor- 
ation of  Israel.  He  feels  that  the  country  of 
his  birth  or  of  his  adoption  is  his  country  and 
his  fellow  citizens  his  nation.  The  present  ef- 
forts of  many  earnest  and  zealous  Jews  to  re- 
establish Zion  as  a  national  home,  not  for  them- 
selves but  for  the  oppressed  and  persecuted 
among  our  people,  he  looks  upon  as  impracti- 
cable and  visionary,  and  as  largely  a  waste  of 
time  and  of  energy.  The  enlightened  Jew  has 
•^faith  and  hope  in  the  twentieth  century.  He 
believes  that  the  century  now  begun  will  be  the 


Us  tbe  /iDessiab  l^et  to  Come  ?         87 

most  progressive  in  the  history  of  civilization;  h. 
that  the  march  of  progress  will,  in  that  era, 
make  gigantic  strides ;  that,  in  the  decades  near 
at  hand,  enlightenment  will  prevail,  persecution 
and  oppression  will  cease ;  that  the  Jew  will  be 
permitted  to  breathe  the  air  of  religious  and 
civil  freedom  throughout  all  lands,  and  that  the 
need  will  thus  be  removed  for  the  reestablish- 
ment  of  Zion.  Just  as  America  is_the  Zion  of 
the  American  Jew  and  England  the  Zion  of  the 
English  Jew,  so,  he  believes,  will  even  the  des- 
potic Russia  and  Rumania  of  to-day  become  the 
Zion  of  the  Russian  and  Rumanian  Jews  of  the 
twentieth  century. 

The  nineteenth  century  began  to  lay  the 
foundation  for  universal  peace  and  progress. 
Not  least  among  the  great  moral  and  religious 
achievements  of  that  wonderful  century  is  the 
emancipation  of  English  and  American  slaves, 
of  the  Russian  serfs,  the  holding  of  the  first  in-  / 
ternational  religious  congress  at  the  World's  / 
Exposition  in  1893,  and  the  great  international 
universal  peace  conference  recently  held  at  the 
Hague.  These  wonderful  events  would  all 
have  seemed  impossible  during  the  preceding 
century ;  yet  it  has  been  our  good  fortune  to  be 


88         is  tbe  fl&essiab  J£et  to  Come  ? 

living  witnesses  of  them  all.  Little  as  our  fa- 
thers of  the  eighteenth  century  dreamt  of  these 
remarkable  happenings,  so  do  we  little  dream  of 
the  yet  more  wonderful  happenings  which  are 
in  store  for  those  destined  to  live  in  the  century 
to  follow.  We  feej_  ourselves  broader,  more  en- 
lightened, less  bigoted,  and  far  mnre  tr>|flagf 
than  were  those  who  lived  in  the  generations  of 
the  past,  yet  our  spirit  will  seem  narrow  indeed, 
our  thoughts  cramped,  and  our  ideas  limited, 
compared  with  the  still  broader  and  more  en- 
lightened minds  to  be  inherited  by  our  children 
and  our  children's  children.  They  are  truly 
destined  to  live  in  the  messianic  age  when,  as 
in  the  hope  of  Isaiah,  swords  shall  be  beaten 
into  plow-shares,  spears  into  pruning-hooks,  and 
war  shall  be  no  more. 

Few  of  us  realize  how  much  we  can  hasten 
such  a  glorious  day.  Many  of  us  imagine  that 
the  uplifting  of  a  nation  is  a  sudden  movement 
spontaneously  participated  in  by  the  whole 
people.  This  is  a  great  and  misleading  error. 
The  world  is  made  up  of  a  family  of  nations. 
The  nation  is  composed  of  a  multitude  of  fami- 
lies and  the  family  consists  of  a  number  of 
individuals.  The  unit  of  society  is  the  individ- 


10  tbe  flDessiab  let  to  Come?         89 

ual.  All  onward  and  upward  movements  must 
therefore  begin  with  the  individual.  As  are  the 
individuals,  so  is  the  nation.  As  are  the  nations, 
so  is  the  world. 

What,  think  you,  would  be  the  condition  of 
the  world  if  all  individuals  led  pure  and  right- 
eous lives?  How  near  at  hand,  think  you, 
would  be  the  messianic  age  if  all  men  loved 
their  neighbors  as  themselves  and  faithfully  en- 
deavored to  observe  the  golden  rule  ?  How  far 
off,  think  you,  would  be  the  day  when  universal 
peace  would  prevail  if  all  men  would  cultivate 
patience  and  forbearance ;  if  they  would  love  the 
right  instead  of  exercising  their  might ;  if  they 
would  seek  out  the  good  rather  than  the  evil  in 
others ;  if  they  would  give  each  other  credit  for 
good  intentions  and  do  their  fullest  share  to 
bring  enlightenment  where  ignorance  prevails, 
to  supplant  tears  with  joy,  sorrow  with  happi- 
ness, want  with  plenty,  despair  with  hope  ?  How 
near  at  hand,  think  you,  would  be  the  day  of  the 
universal  brotherhood  of  man  if  we  thoroughly 
respected  one  another's  opinions,  and  tried  to 
win  over  the  sinner  to  the  ways  of  righteousness 
through  love  rather  than  through  fear,  if  we  pitied 
the  guilty  and  manifested  love  for  the  oppressed  ? 


90         Is  tbe  flDesstab  l^et  to  Come  ? 

In  the  language  of  a  modern  writer,  "  Let  us 
join  hands  together  and  make  the  good  times 
real."  We,  each  of  us,  can,  in  our  limited  way, 
become  a  personal  messiah  and  hasten  the  day 
of  universal  peace  and  good-fellowship.  We 
can  do  this  by  perfect  obedience  to  the  moral 
law,  and  by  an  earnest  desire  to  make  the  world 
about  us  brighter  and  more  cheerful.  We  can 
do  this  by  encouraging  virtue  and  honor,  and 
by  guiding  into  the  perfect  way  the  morally 
blind  and  the  erring.  Unlike  the  selfish,  who 
think  only  of  saving  their  own  souls,  and  in  so 
doing  are  no  more  commendable  than  those 
who  think  of  saving  only  their  own  dollars,  let 
us  strive  to  be  of  service  to  others,  lend  a  help- 
ing hand  to  the  fallen  brother,  and  offer  an  en- 
couraging word  to  the  misguided  sister.  Let 
us  do  this  no  matter  what  their  color  or  creed, 
or  race,  or  belief. 

)The  belief  in  a  personal  messiah  served  its 
purpose  well.  It  brought  hope  where  there 
might  have  been  despair.  It  filled  the  heart 
with  faith  that  otherwise  would  have  become 
hopeless.  It  lent  courage  to  the  faltering  and 
gave  strength  to  the  oppressed,  the  persecuted, 
and  the  down-trodden. 


fg  tbe  dDegglab  jget  to  Come?         91 

The  belief  in  a  messianic  age,  in  an  ideal  state 
of  society,  in  a  universal  brotherhood,  and  an  era 
of  universal  peace  will  achieve  still  higher  and 
greater  good.  It  must  enlist  the  earnest,  hearty, 
and  sincere  efforts  of  all  lovers  of  humanity  into 
one  harmonious,  united  effort.  It  must  tend  to 
tear  away  the  barriers  of  prejudice  and  intoler- 
ance which  still  exist  between  man  and  man. 
It  must  help  to  break  down  the  walls  of  tradi- 
tion and  superstition  which  have  kept  men 
apart,  and  which  have  tended  to  cultivate  and  to 
bring  out  man's  lowest  and  basest,  instead  of  his 
highest  and  noblest  qualities. 

The  belief  in  a  messianic  age  must  tend  to 
fill  the  hearts  and  minds  of  men  with  the 
thought  that  there  is  but  one  heavenly  Father 
and  that  all  human,  beings,  whatever  their  color 
or  their  creed,  are  equally  near  and  dear  to 
him.  The  belief  in  a  messianic  age  must  bring 
us  to  feel  that,  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  only  he 
shall  be  recognized  who  looks  upon  all  men  as 
his  brothers  and  upon  himself  as  a  personal 
messiah  sent  to  teach  and  to  preach  the  doctrine 
of  a  messianic  age,  of  universal  peace,  of  the 
fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man. 


ate  tlje  3(eto0  d&o&'g  djogen 


IV 

ARE  THE  JEWS  GOD'S  CHOSEN 
PEOPLE  ? 

SOME  one  has  said  that  "every  man  creates 
God  according  to  his  own  image." 

To  those  who  believe  in  a  corporeal  God,  to 
those  who  give  him  a  form,  who  give  him  hu- 
man attributes,  his  appearance  is  made  to  vary 
with  the  thoughts  and  the  conceptions  of  men. 
To  one  he  is  simply  man  magnified  with  all 
man's  passions  and  failings;  to  another  he  is  a 
being  whose  time  is  absorbed  in  closely  watch- 
ing, in  detail,  the  minute  actions  of  his  living 
creatures  and  writing  them  down  in  his  Book 
of  books  for  good  or  ill  as,  in  his  opinion,  their 
acts  may  merit.  To  some  Jews,  he  is  a  being 
in  human  form  who  lives  in  accordance  with  the 
laws  of  Moses  and  whose  whole  attention  is 
absorbed  in  exclusive  watching  and  caring  for 
the  children  of  Israel. 

Such  as  these  make  of  God  a  narrow,  cruei, 
petty,  unjust  being,  totally  unfit  to  rule  the  uni- 


96    Hrc  tbe  3ews  Gob's  Cbosen  people? 

verse  and  wholly  unworthy  of  the  worship  and 
adoration  bestowed  upon  Him  by  a  devotional 
world. 

There  are  those  who  interpret  the  nineteenth 
chapter  of  Exodus  literally,  and  firmly  and  sin- 
cerely believe  that  the  children  of  Israel  are 
God's  chosen  people,  the  elect  of  Jshoyahj 
that  he  loves  his  peculiar  people  above  all  his 
other  creatures ;  that  time  and  again  he  has  set 
aside  his  otherwise  eternal  and  unchangeable 
laws  in  order  to  answer  their  prayers  and  to 
comply  with  their  wishes,  and  that  in  the  fu- 
ture he  may  again  be  expected  to  do  likewise. 
This  belief,  during  all  the  past  ages,  has  re- 
ilted  in  incalculable  harm  to  the  Jew  and  has 
lone  God,  so  to  speak,  a  great  injustice.  For 
the  Jew  to  assume  for  himself  the  title  of  being 
God's  chosen  and  anointed  has  naturally  and 
justly  been  looked  upon  as  unwarranted  arro- 
gance by  the  rest  of  the  world,  which  it  has 
not  been  slow  to  resent.  This  arrogance,  on 
the  part  of  the  Jew,  has  led  to  his  exclusiveness, 
to  his  unwillingness  in  the  past  to  mingle  freely 
with  those  about  him;  this,  in  turn,  could  not 
but  engender  hatred  and  ill-will ;  and,  whenever 
the  others  possessed  sufficient  power,  it  ended 


Hre  tbe  Sews  <3ofc's  Cbosen  people  ?   97 

in  relentless  persecution.     It  is  true  that  this 
exclusiveness  saved   Judaism,  but  had  it  not 
been  for  the  breaking  away  of  Paul  and  his  fol-  A 
lowers,  the  influence  of  Judaism  would  have  ; 
remained  confined  to  a  handful  of  Jews.     On 
the  other  hand,  among  such  non-Jews  as  be- 
lieved the  claim  to  be  a  true  one  that  Israel  is 
the  chosen  and  the  favored  of  God,  the  thought 
could  not  but  follow  that  God,  in  having  favor- 
ites, could  not  be  all-just  nor  all-wise.     A  wise 
father  will  have  no  favorites  for  fear  of  engen^         / 
dering  hatred,  jealousy,  and  envy  against  his 
better-beloved  children.    Jacob,  for  example,  by   s\^*z 
manifesting  favoritism  for  his  son  Joseph,  en-        >   / 
gendered  for  the  favorite  the  hatred  and  enmity 
of  his  other  sons.    A  just  God  will  love  all  his 
creatures  alike  and  will  not  do  for  one  what  he 
is  not  ready  to  do  for  all.    Thus  did  the  doc- 1 
trine  of  God's  favoritism  for  Israel  injure  the 
Jew  and  lessen  the  good  opinion  of  many  toward 
Israel's  God. 

That  the  belief  in  a  corporeal  God  was  not 
the  belief  of  the  high-minded  and  the  clear- 
minded  among  the  Jews  is  made  manifest  by 
the  utterances  of  those  among  the  teachers  in 

Israel  who  speak  of  Him  as  all-wise,  all-know- 
7 


98   Hre  tbe  Jews  Oofc's  Cbosen  people? 

ing,  ever-present,  eternal,  incorporeal,  without 
form  and  without  shape.    That  these  did  not 

[  arrogate  to  Israel  a  monopoly  ^f  God's  care 
and  providence  is  likewise  made  manifest  by 
the  prayer  repeated  so  often  in  the  synagog, 
"  Let  the  righteous  of  all  nations  rejoice  in 
God's  grace  and  exult  in  His  justice." 

It  is  this  teaching  of  an  incorporeal  God,  this 
prayer  that  the  righteous  of  all  nations  shall  be 
saved,  that  places  Judaism  upon  the  highest  and 
noblest  religious  plane,  and  exalts  it  above  those 
beliefs  which  teach  that  God  is  merely  an  exag- 
gerated man  who  has  likes  and  dislikes;  who 
loves  and  hates;  who  shows  and  withholds  fa- 
vors ;  who  is  revengeful  and  cruel ;  who  is  des- 
potic and  tyrannic,  and  who  can  be  appeased 
and  satisfied  only  by  offerings  and  compliments, 
by  praise  and  flattery. 

It  is  this  teaching,  "  Let  the  righteous  of  all 
nations  rejoice  in  God's  grace  and  exult  in  His 
justice,"  that  makes  Judaism  a  broad  and  tol- 
erant religion,  that  robs  it  of  the  spirit  of  nar- 
rowness and  bigotry,  and  manifests  clearly  that 

_^  Judaism,  in  the  opinion  of  the  broad-minded 
Jew,  is  the  shortest,  but  not  the  exclusive,  path 
to  moral  and  religious  happiness.  It  is  this 


Hre  tbe  Sews  (3ofr'g  Cbogen  people !    99 

teaching  that  the  righteous  of  all  nations  shall 
rejoice  in  God's  grace  which  indicates  plainly 
that  Judaism  does  not  claim  a  monopoly  of  all 
religious  truth,  but  that  it  recognizes  the  fact 
that  the  holy  and  the  righteous,  the  pure  and 
the  virtuous,  are  destined  to  a  better  life  by 
whatever  name  they  may  call  God  and  in  what- 
soever temple  they  may  worship  the  Creator  of 
the  universe.  This  thought  is  emphasized  in 
the  Talmud,  which  says:  "The  righteous  of 
other  nations  have  a  share  in  the  bliss  of  the 
world  to  come." 

In  speaking  of  Judaism,  Rev.  Voysey,  of 
London,  the  eminent  theistic  preacher,  has  this 
to  say: 

"  The  Jewish  theology  is  the  only  one  that 
can  venture  unarmed  to  face  the  weapons  of 
modern  science  and  Biblical  criticism.  It  has 
no  definitions  of  God  and  it  needs  none.  The 
Jewish  conceptions  of  God  outstrip  the  highest 
yet  known  among  all  other  religions  in  the 
world.  It  leaves  Brahmanism,  Buddhism,  Con- 
fucianism, Parseeism,  Mohammedanism,  and 
Christianity  all  far  behind  it,  and  has  no  more 
to  fear  from  modern  science  or  criticism  than 
had  they  never  been  born.  As  a  religion,  it  is 


ioo  arc  tbe  Jews  <3ot>'s  Cbosen  people? 

at  once  the  most  intellectual  and  the  most  emo- 
tional of  all  faiths.  It  never  violates  reason, 
and  yet  it  brings  the  soul  nearer  in  holy  and 
joyful  communion  with  God  than  all  the  other 
religions  put  together.  Needing  no  idols,  no 
mediators,  no  priests,  it  brings  us  face  to  face 
with  our  Eternal  Father  and  Friend." 

We  must  remember  that  this  is  the  testi- 
mony not  of  a  Jew,  but  of  one  born  and  reared 
a  Christian,  and  to-day  a  distinguished  preacher 
of  the  theistic  faith. 

I  have  known  men  so  narrow,  so  bigoted, 
and  so  intolerant,  that  they  believed  that,  how- 
ever pure  and  upright  one's  life,  however 
virtuous  one's  conduct,  however  unselfish  and 
self-sacrificing  one's  efforts,  however  pious  and 
saint-like  one's  earthly  career,  he  is  doomed 
to  eternal  perdition  unless  he  believe  in  their 
particular  creed  and  subscribe  to  certain  dog- 
matic doctrines.  It  is  such  a  spirit  which  gave 
to  the  world  its  army  of  religious  inquisitors; 
that  would  build  a  wall  around  God's  greatest 
gifts  to  man,  his  reason  and  his  intelligence,  and 
that  would  persecute,  if  it  could,  all  who  would 
dare  to  make  use  of  these  blessed  gifts. 

Let  us  raise  our  voices  in  daily  thanksgiving 


Hre  tbe  Sews  (Bob's  Cbosen  people?   101 

that  we  live  in  an  age  and  in  a  country'  where 
every  man's  opinions  are  his  Own;  where,  if  he 
will,  he  may  follow  the  belief  of  his  birth,  or  such 
other  belief  as  may  more  strongly  appeal  to 
him ;  where  the  good  that  he  does  is  appreciated 
by  his  fellows — whatever  may  be  their  religious 
doctrines — and  where  the  moral  or  religious 
wrong  that  he  does  is  a  matter  between  him 
and  his  God. 

That  such  conditions  are  conducive  to  the 
highest  and  best  moral  results  is  made  evident 
by  the  fact  that  the  people  of  this  country  stand 
acknowledged  as  the  happiest,  the  most  civil- 
ized, and  among  the  noblest  in  the  world. 

May  humanity  never  again  see  the  day  when 
men  shall  have  the  power,  at  the  point  of  the 
sword  or  through  threats  of  the  dungeon  or 
stake,  to  force  their  fellow  creatures  to  accept 
religious  beliefs  abhorrent  to  them,  and  to  com- 
pel them  to  profess  a  faith  repugnant  to  their 
conscience  and  to  their  reason,  and  thus  to 
make  of  them  the  most  despicable  among  man- 
kind :  liars  and  hypocrites. 

Tho  the  children  of  Israel  are  not  God's 
chosen  people  in  the  sense  that  he  loves  them 
more  than  he  does  his  other  creatures;  tho 


102  Hre  tbe  Sews  (3ofc's  Cbosen  people? 

they  are  not  the  anointed  of  Jeheval*-  in  the 

sense  that  he  would  transgress  any  of  his  own 

laws  to  oblige  them;  tho  they  are   not  God's 

favorite  sons  and  daughters  in  the  sense  that 

he  would  do  for  them  what  he  is  not  ready  to 

/D<*,h^  do  for  all,  the  history  of  the  Jews  would  indi- 

-cate  that  they  had__been_chosen  for  a  special 

'mission,  to  perform  a  certain  exalted  service  for 

humanity. 

Nations,  like  individuals,  seem  to  be  appointed 
for  a  special  purpose.  The  history  of  civilization 
shows  that  while  many  nations  have  achieved 
certain  ends,  some  particular  nation  has  proved 
itself  best  fitted  to  perform  some  special  service. 
Some  nations  have  devoted  time,  thought,  and 
energy  to  poetry,  to  art,  to  sculpture,  and  to 
philosophy,  but  the  nation  of  nations  preemi- 
nent in  these  achievements  is  ancient  Greece, 
whose  wondrous  works  are  destined  to  stand  as 
a  monument  to  the  poetic,  artistic,  and  philo- 
sophic genius  of  its  people.  Some  nations  have 
devoted  time,  thought,  and  energy  to  the  science 
of  law,  but  Rome  is  the  nation  of  nations  which 
stands  preeminent  as  lawmakers,  whose  remark- 
able system  of  jurisprudence  will  continue  to 
have  its  abiding  influence  for  countless  gener- 


Ere  tbe  3ews  <5ofc's  Cbosen  people?   103 

ations.  Some  nations  have  devoted  their  time, 
their  thought,  and  their  energy  to  establishing 
civil  liberty.  The  Jews  were  the  firsts  to  create 
a  republic,  but  their  republic  crumbled  and 
failed  and  soon  developed  into  a  monarchy. 
Ancient  Rome  tried  a  republican  form  of  gov- 
ernment and  failed.  France  has  tried  it  at  vari- 
ous times  and  failed,  and  is  now  struggling  with 
what,  at  best,  is  yet  an  experiment.  Other  coun- 
tries have  likewise  tried  and  failed,  but  to-day, 
as  a  remarkable  example  of  man's  power  of  self- 
government,  stands  the  American  republic,  the 
world's  greatest  object-lesson  of  civil  liberty  and 
political  freedom. 

Many  nations  have  devoted  their  thoughts, 
their  time,  and  their  energies  to  religion  and  to 
the  cultivation  of  morals,  but  the  people  of 
peoples  who  stand  out  in  bold  relief  as  the 
masters  in  the  world  of  religion  and  morality, 
are  the  Jews,  who  gave  to  civilization  monothe- 
ism, its  belief  in  the  oneness  and  unity  of 
God,  its  Ten  Commandments  and  its  ethical 
utterances  which  have  moved  and  influenced 
for  good  the  human  family  as  it  was  never  be- 
fore influenced.  Thus  have  the  various  nations 
of  the  world  been  chosen  to  perform  certain 


iQ4  Hre  tbe  3e\vs  (Soft's  Cbosen  people! 

high  and  important  fuctions  for  the  betterment 
of  the  whole  human  family. 

Civilization  will  ever  remain  indebted  to 
Greece  for  Homer,  Sophocles,  Socrates,  and 
Plato.  Posterity  can  never  repay  the  debt  it 

j  owes  Rome  for  Augustus,  Justinian,  and  its 
other  great  lawmakers.  The  human  family  will 
ever  remain  indebted  to  the  American  republic 

\for  Washington,  Jefferson,  Franklin,  and  Lin- 
coln, as  the  fathers  and  preservers,  on  a  broad 

'scale,  of  civil  liberty  and  political  freedom. 
And,  finally,  civilization  must  ever  acknowledge 
the  service  performed,  in  the  interest  of  mor- 
ality and  righteousness,  by  Abraham  and  his 
descendants,  Moses,  Isaiah,  Micah,  Jeremiah, 
David,  Solomon,  Jesus,  Paul,  and  the  host  of 
other  Jewish  teachers  and  prophets,  whose 
words  and  whose  deeds  have  left  an  inefface- 
able imprint  on  the  character  and  history 
of  man.  Like  the  wise  and  able  commander 
who  chooses  for  certain  heroic  performances 
those  who  by  training  and  temperament  are 
peculiarly  fitted  for  certain  achievements,  God 
has  evidently  chosen  certain  peoples  to  perform 
certain  works  for  which  by  temperament  and 
disposition  they  were  peculiarly  fitted.  This 


Hre  tbe  3ews  Oo&'s  Gbosen  people  ?    105 

does  not  mean  that  God  loves  them  more  than  he 
does  his  other  creatures,  or  that  they  need  ex- 
pect special  rights  or  privileges  withheld  from 
others.  Each  has  been  permitted  to  enjoy  the 
fruits  of  the  achievement  of  the  others,  and  each 
must  be  willing  to  give  freely  in  exchange  the 
results  of  his  own  achievements. 

To  have  been  chosen  to  perform  for  human- 
ity some  great  and  important  service  does  not 
mean  the  right  to  receive  greater  privileges; 
on  the  contrary,  it  means  higher  and  greater 
responsibilities.  As  a  nation  of  priests,  as  the 
preachers  of  the  monotheistic  belief,  as  the  teach- 
ers of  the  world's  highest  code  of  ethics,  as 
the  people  of  the  book  which  has  done  heroic  - 
work  to  uplift  mankind  and  give  the  world  a 
basis  for  righteousness  that  now  lives  as  firmly 
implanted  in  the  human  heart  as  the  rpck  of 
Gibraltar  on  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean, 
the  Jews  had  placed  upon  them  a  most  grave 
and  serious  responsibility. 

The  priest  to  be  respected  must  practise  what 
he  preaches.  The  preacher,  to  carry  weight 
with  others,  must  cultivate  the  virtues  he  dwells 
upon.  The  Jew,  to  fulfil  his  mission,  must 
be  a  living  object-lesson  of  the  fruits  of  the 


io6   are  tbe  3e\x>g  (Soft's  Cbogen  people? 

morality  and  righteousness  taught  by  his  book 
and  by  his  early  fathers.  It  is  not  sufficient 
that  his  was  the  race  first  to  conceive  the  unity 
of  God,  to  give  to  the  world  the  Ten  Command- 
ments, to  preach  the  equality  of  all  mankind  be- 
fore God,  to  abandon  idolatry  and  paganism,  to 
practise  the  virtue  of  moral  self-restraint,  to  give 
the  world  its  weekly  day  of  rest,  to  teach  the 
dignity  of  labor;  but  he  must  give  added  force 
to  all  this  by  the  purity  of  his  daily  life,  by  the 
devotion  to  all  these  teachings  and  doctrines  in 
his  daily  practises. 

That  which  is  excusable  in  the  layman  be- 
comes unpardonable  in  the  priest.  The  trans- 
gressions of  the  follower  are  not  likely  to  be 
nearly  so  serious  in  their  influence  upon  others 
as  are  the  transgressions  of  the  leader.  Leader- 
ship means  increased  cares,  increased  burdens, 
increased  responsibilities. 

The  Jew  stands  out  in  the  world's  history  as 
the  leader  in  morality  and  righteousness.  To 
maintain  this  leadership  demands  continued 
and  unceasing  obedience  to  the  laws  of  purity 
and  virtue,  integrity  and  honor,  right-acting  and 
right-living.  Only  by  such  course  of  action 
can  he  continue  to  deserve  the  title  of  having 


Bre  tbe  Sews  (go&'g  Cbogen  people?  107 

been  chosen  by  Providence  for  a  high  and  noble 
purpose.  Only  by  such  line  of  conduct  can  he 
continue  to  deserve  the  esteem  and  respect  of 
his  fellows.  Only  by  such  practises  can  he  de- 
serve to  remain  the  heir  to  the  great  Book  of 
books  given  the  world  by  his  people,  and  to 
merit  a  share  of  the  glory  which  they  have  thus 
won  from  grateful  mankind.  Only  by  such 
action  can  the  Jew  hope  to  see  Isaiah's  proph- 
ecy fulfilled,  when  he  says: 

"And  the  work  of  righteousness  shall  be 
peace ;  and  the  effect  of  righteousness  quietness 
and  assurance  forever. 

"  And  my  people  shall  dwell  in  a  peaceable 
habitation,  and  in  sure  dwellings  and  in  quiet 
resting-places." 

To  be  the  chosen  of  God,  to  perform  some 
great  and  lasting  service  for  mankind,  to  be 
selected  for  a  mission  which  has  carried  with  it 
suffering  and  sorrow,  misery  and  persecution, 
hatred  and  degradation,  but  which  has  brought 
to  the  human  family  joy  and  happiness,  virtue 
and  morality,  goodness  and  godliness,  is  to  fill  a 
higher  place  in  the  world's  history  and  in  man's 
estimation  than  to  be  simply  the  favored  of 
God,  with  everything  to  receive  and  nothing  to 


are  tbe  3ewg  (Bofr'g  Cbosen  people? 


give.  To  be  the  son  who  has  gone  forth  and, 
through  trials,  tribulations,  suffering,  sorrow, 
pain,  and  agony,  to  have  performed  the  heavy 
and  responsible  task  laid  upon  him  by  his  father 
for  the  good  of  the  family,  is  to  be  more  blessed 
than  to  be  the  pampered  son  living  on  the  pa- 
ternal bounty. 

Let  the  Jews  feel  grateful  that  they  are  no 
dearer  or  nearer  to  God  than  are  his  other  chil- 
dren, and  they  can  thus  more  keenly  realize  and 
appreciate  that  God  is  absolutely  just.  Let 
em  feel  grateful  that  Providence  has  deemed 
em  worthy  to  have  placed  upon  them  the 
heavy  burden  of  priesthood,  so  that  they  may 
be  the  moral  teachers  of  mankind.  Let  them 
feel  grateful  that,  through  this  burden  placed 
upon  them,  the  morality  of  the  world  has  been 
uplifted  and  its  power  for  righteousness  in- 
creased, not  only  through  Judaism,  but  also 
through  its  noble  and  powerful  daughters,  Chris- 
tianity and  Mohammedanism.  Let  them  feel 
grateful  that  they  have  been  chosen  for  high 
duties  rather  than  for  small  favors.  Let  them, 
by  the  purity  of  their  daily  lives,  by  high  think- 
ing and  simple  living,  prove  worthy  to  be  of  the 
people  who  have  placed  civilization  under  last- 


Hre  tbe  Sews  (gob's  Cbosen  people?  109 

ing  obligation,  so  that  it  may  truly  be  said  of 
the  Jews  that  they  are  a  kingdom  of  priests. 
Let  them  strive  to  be  worthy  members  of  the 
race  destined  to  yet  further  perform  a  most  im- 
portant part  in  the  moral  and  religious  history 
of  mankind. 

Let  the  Christian,  who  has  fallen  heir  to  all 
that  the  Jew  has  given  to  the  world,  likewise  feel 
the  responsibility  of  priesthood ;  and  let  him  cul- 
tivate the  spirit  which  will  make  of  every  Chris- 
tian layman  a  priest,  who  by  his  daily  life,  by  his 
kindliness  of  spirit,  his  purity  of  thought,  his  no- 
bility of  action,  will  show  himself  worthy  of 
the  moral  and  religious  blessings  inherited  from 
the  Jew.  Let  the  Christian  feel  that  the  work 
he  long  since  undertook  to  spread  the  truth 
and  teachings  of  the  Jewish  Bible  to  the  remot- 
est nooks  and  corners  of  the  globe  is  one  that 
must  win  for  him  a  title  of  nobility. 

Let  him  continue  his  world-wide  missionary 
work  among  heathen  and  savage,  among  barba- 
rians and  idolaters,  but  let  him  instil  the  teach- 
ings of  morality  and  righteousness,  not  at  the 
point  of  the  sword  nor  at  the  mouth  of  the  can- 
non, but  with  kindness  and  patience,  with  toler- 
ance and  forbearance.  Let  him  live  in  this  spirit 


no   are  tbe  Sews  oofr'g  Cbosen  people? 

and  work  in  this  spirit,  and  let  him  look  for  no 
reward  for  such  service  beyond  the  conscious- 
ness of  having  faithfully  performed  his  share  of 
man's  work  in  striving  to  reach  upward  toward 
God,  and  in  aiding  the  morally  benumbed  and 
benighted  to  see  the  light  of  truth  and  the 
beauty  of  righteousness.  If  the  Jew  and  Chris- 
tian will  each  manfully  perform  his  mission,  will 
each  give  the  other  credit  for  good  intentions, 
will  work  for  the  essentials  of  religion  common 
to  both,  and  regard  each  other's  non-essentials 
of  religion  in  a  spirit  of  love,  both  will  find  the 
world  amply  broad  as  a  field  of  action,  both  will 
find  that  whether  or  no  they  are  the  elect  of 
God,  they  are  at  least  his  faithful  servants,  and 
that  in  earnestly  and  unselfishly  doing  God's 
will,  they  shall  enjoy  his  grace  and  delight  in 
his  justice. 


IRetnatn 


V 

WHY   REMAIN  JEWS? 

I  THINK  it  was  the  German  poet  Heine  who 
said,  "Judaism  is  not  a  religion — it  is  a  misfor- 
tune." 

This  was  said  to  have  been  uttered  at  a  time 
when  the  Jews  in  Germany,  as  well  as  the  Jews  of 
most  other  countries,  were  laboring  under  many 
disabilities ;  wrhen,  in  the  language  of  a  modern 
writer:  "The  Jews  of  Germany  were  still  sepa- 
rated from  the  rest  of  human  kind  and  com- 
pelled to  reside  in  the  miserable  ghetto,  that  had 
to  be  locked  with  mighty  gates  after  dark,  and 
on  the  great  holidays,  to  keep  plundering  and 
pillaging  mobs  from  them. 

"  Restrictions  hounded  the  Jews  wherever 
they  turned. 

"Where  others  could  walk  where  they 
pleased,  the  Jews  were  confronted  everywhere 
with  the  sign  '  Jews  Not  Permitted.' 

"  Where  others  could  follow  whatever  profes- 
sion or  calling  they  chose,  the  Jews  had  to  con- 
8 


H4  TJfflbs  "Remain  3ew0? 


tent  themselves  with  the  lowest  of  callings,— 
that  of  pedlar  or  petty  trader,  or  money-lender, 
which  the  city  government  graciously  permitted 
them  to  follow,  in  return  for  exorbitant  sums  of 
money. 

"  Where  other  denominations  found  no  re- 
strictions in  the  number  of  their  annual  mar- 
riages, the  Jews  were  restricted  to  twelve  couples 
annually,  and  many  a  betrothed  couple  had  to 
tarry  many  a  long  year  before  their  turn  came, 
and  had  to  pay  dearly  for  the  privilege  when  it 
came. 

"  Where  others  could  promenade  in  the  walk, 
the  Jews  had  to  tramp  alongside  it  and  endure 
any  ruffian's  jeer  and  insult  and  assault,  without 
as  much  as  the  right  to  bring  legal  charges 
against  their  Christian  assailants." 

Under  such  conditions  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  conditions  of  a  Judaism  thoroughly  rabbi- 
nized  and  deadened,  with  its  beautiful  spirit 
largely  throttled  by  form  and  ceremony,  with 
its  dogmas  and  traditions  worshiped  as  the  re- 
ligion itself;  with  the  mind  of  the  Jew  blunted 
and  stunted  by  his  hundreds  of  years  of  persecu- 
tion ;  and  the  sordidness  of  the  Jew  keenly  de- 

*-       "™^™^*™"^""^"^^^*^^«*»M«»*«M«J6gjj^^» 

veloped  by  the  degraded  occupations  into  which 


TKHbg  TRemaln  Sews  t 115 

he  was  forced  by  Christian  oppressors  on  the 
other  hand,  is  it  to  be  thought  strange  that  am- 
bitious intellects  like  the  Mendelsohns,  Herz, 
the  German  poets  Boerne  and  Heine,  and 
thousands  of  other  intelligent  Jewish  men  and 
women,  should  have  abandoned  the  faith  of 
their  fathers? 

Is  it  to  be  wondered,  with  so  little  to  appeal 
to  the  mind  in  the  perverted  Judaism  of  the 
early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  so 
much  to  appeal  to  in  the  way  of  a  removal  on 
the  other  hand  of  social  and  material  disabili- 
ties, that  many  of  the  most  brilliant  Jewish  minds 
who  lived  in  Germany  during  the  early  part  of 
this  century  should  have  turned,  in  the  hope 
of  relief,  to  Christianity?  ^^ 

Graetz,  the  historian,  tells  us  that  in  a  few 
years  in  Germany  over  twenty-five  hundred  Jews 
became  Christians,  nearly  reducing  to  one-half 
the  Jewish  population  of  Berlin,  including  many 
of  the  best  German  Jewish  intellects.  How  fu- 
tile the  hopes  were  of  many  of  these  converts  is 
made  plain  when  we  read  how  the  Christians, 
before  the  Jew  became  a  convert,  placed  upon 
him  every  disability  and  every  indignity  and 
subjected  him  to  every  insult  in  order  to  force 


"Remain  Jews  ? 


him  to  become  an  apostate,  and  how  these  very 
Christians,  after  the  conversion  of  the  Jew, 
would  taunt  him  with  being  a  traitor  to  his  faith 
and  his  people. 

Human  nature,  at  best,  is  weak  and  fallible. 
The  quality  of  true  heroism  is  not  given  to  us 
all.  If  heroes  were  as  numerous  as  the  sands 
of  the  shore,  we  should  not  immortalize  them  in 
poetry  and  in  song,  nor  decorate  their  graves, 
nor  build  high  and  enduring  monuments  to  their 
memories.  It  is  because  heroism  is  so  rare  that 
we  bow  down  and  worship  it.  It  is  because 
greatness  is  so  uncommon  that  so  many  make 
of  it  a  fetish. 

Living  as  \ve  do  in  an  age  of  tolerance  and 
religious  independence,  in  a  land  of  liberty  of 
thought  and  freedom  of  action,  it  is  easy  for  us 
to  condemn,  as  cowards  and  as  traitors,  the  Jews 
of  the  earlier  part  of  this  century,  who  became 
Christians  converts,  not  from  conviction,  but  for 
expediency;  not  for  love  of  the  new  faith,  but 
in  the  hope  of  relief  and  toleration. 

But  let  us  place  ourselves  in  their  condition. 
Let  us  imagine  ourselves  surrounded  on  the  one 
hand  with  a  religious  atmosphere  which  makes 
no  appeal  to  heart  or  mind,  and  laboring  under 


TRIlbg  TRematn  Sews  ? 117 

every  social  and  political  disability,  while  on  the 
other  hand,  opportunities  present  themselves 
for  the  removal  of  such  disabilities, — to  say  noth- 
ing of  the  opportunities  for  a  higher,  broader 
development  of  all  the  qualities  within  us,  how 
few  could  withstand  the  terrible  temptation  to 
relinquish  the  faith  looked  upon  by  many  as  a 
misfortune  ? 

The  wonder  is  not  that,  in  those  days,  so 
many  became  Christian  converts,  but  that  so 
few  abandoned  a  faith  which  had  become,  in 
the  fullest  sense,  a  bane  and  a  burden.  No 
other  religious  faith  in  all  history  presents,  as 
does  Judaism,  the  picture  of  its  members  being 
subjected  to  such  frightful  physical  and  mental 
sufferings  in  all  countries  and  in  nearly  all 
ages,  and  nevertheless  showing  comparatively 
so  few  apostates. 

If  to  suffer  all  the  indignities  that  the  human 
mind  can  conceive,  if  to  submit  to  outrage  and 
to  persecution,  to  unspeakable  cruelty  and  to 
the  deepest  degradation,  century  after  century, 
in  country  after  country,  and  all  for  an  ideal,  all 
for  the  belief  in  the  doctrine  of  a  one  and  only 
God ;  if  to  surfer  all  this  for  a  principle  is  hero- 
ism, then  are  the  Jews  truly  the  world's  greatest 


us  Wbp  IRemain  3ewsT 

heroes.  If  it  is  great  to  die  for  an  idea,  and 
greater  still  to  live  and  to  suffer  for  an  idea,  then 
do  the  Jews  rank  foremost  among  those  who 
have  lived,  suffered,  and  died  for  what  they  be- 
lieved to  be  the  truth ;  then  must  their  history 
be  handed  down  through  all  the  ages  of  civiliza- 
tion as  that  of  the  martyr-race  of  the  world ;  a 
race  that  was  ready  to  suffer,  and  die,  for  a 
belief.  It  is  such  a  history  which  prompted 
the  jivinely  gifted  German  Jewess  Rahel,  who 
became  a  Christian  convert,  to  say  to  her  devoted 
Christian  husband  on  her  sick-bed  a  few  days 
before  her  death,  in  1833: 

"  With  delighted  exaltation,  I  look  back  upon 
my  origin,  upon  the  link  which  my  history  forms 
between  the  oldest  memories  of  the  human  race 
and  the  interests  of  to-day,  between  the  broad- 
est interval  of  time  and  space.  That  which  wras 
during  the  early  part  of  my  life  the  greatest 
ignominy,  the  cause  of  the  bitterest  sorrow — to 
have  been  born  a  Jewess — I  would  not  now  have 
otherwise  at  any  price." 

It  required,  in  earlier  periods  and  in  many 
countries,  great  heroism  to  remain  a  Jew.  It 
requires  extraordinary  heroism  in  some  coun- 
tries even  to-day  to  remain  a  Jew.  It  requires 


TKflbg  iRematn  3ews  t 


little  heroism  to  remain  a  Jew  in  this  and  in 
some  other  lands. 

The  Jew  of  the  past  became  an  apostate, 
as  a  rule,  not  from  choice,  but  from  necessity 
The  Jew  of  this  land,  should  he  become  a 
convert,  need  do  so  not  from  necessity,  but 
purely  from  choice.  It  is  because  of  this  free 
will  that  we  so  rarely  hear  of  an  American 
Jew  changing  his  faith.  It  is  because  he  can 
live  his  life  in  all  its  fulness  and  meaning,  that 
the  Jew,  breathing  American  air  or  the  air  of 
that  other  magnificent  Anglo-Saxon  country, 
Great  Britain,  rarely  feels  prompted  to  leave 
the  faith  of  his  fathers.  The  Jew  of  this  age 
and  of  this  land  would  have  but  two  rea- 
sons for  changing  his  faith,  conviction  or 
convenience.  For  the  Jew,  who,  after  careful 
investigation  and  mature  thought,  decides  that 
Christianity  or  any  other  belief  contains  more 
of  the  truth  than  does  Judaism,  and  who  as 
a  searcher  after  truth  leaves  the  religion  of  his 
fathers  and  adopts  the  religion  of  his  con- 
victions, there  can  be  naught  but  respect  and 
admiration;  respect  for  the  honesty  and  the 
strength  of  his  convictions  ;  admiration  for  his 
courage  in  inviting  on  the  part  of  the  cynical 


-Remain 


and  the  distrusting,  possible  attacks  upon  his 
motives.  For  the  Jew,  however,  who  changes 
his  belief  merely  for  the  sake  of  convenience,  in 
the  hope  of  escaping  what  he  looks  upon  as  a 
burden ;  or  who  flies  from  it  in  the  hope  of  win- 
ning for  himself  a  higher  or  better  place,  socially 
or  materially,  there  can  be  naught  but  contempt. 
A  Jew  such  as  this  merits,  and,  as  a  rule,  re- 
ceives the  condemnation  of  the  world,  and  lives 
and  dies  despised  by  all  whose  good  opinion  is 
worth  having.  A  Jew  such  as  this  can  not  but 
be  a  fraud  and  a  hypocrite,  and  his  days  and 
nights  can  not  but  be  embittered  with  the 
thought  that  he  has  sold  himself  for  a  mess 
of  pottage,  and  that  his  life  is  but  a  living, 
empty  lie. 

If  we  were  asked  why  we  remain  Jews,  we 
could  but  answer  that  we  can  not  honestly  and 
consistently  become  anything  else.  It  is  true 
that  many  of  us  have  been  indifferent  to  our 
belief ;  that  many  of  us  have  taken  little  or  no 
interest  in  spiritual  affairs;  that  many  of  us 
are  merely  race  Jews  rather  than  observers  of 
the  Jewish  religion;  yet  I  am  sure  that,  as  a 
rule,  if  pressure  were  brought  to  bear  upon 
any  of  us  to  join  another  faith,  our  interest  in 


IRemain  Sews? 


our  own  faith  would  immediately  become 
aroused,  and  we  should  study  it  as  we  had 
never  before  studied  it.  Such  study  would 
bring  out  to  us,  as  it  has  never  before  been 
brought  out,  that  all  that  is  claimed  for  other 
religions  we  find  in  our  own.  If  other  religions 
claim  to  teach  love  and  faith,  charity  and  benev- 
olence, justice  and  righteousness,  meekness 
and  humility,  virtue  and  obedience,  truth  and 
honesty,  chastity  and  purity,  we  should  find 
that  they  have  sucked  in  all  these  teachings  at 
the  breast  of  Judaism,  and  that,  as  members  of 
the  Jewish  faith,  we  are  getting  our  lessons  of 
right-acting  and  right-living  from  the  very  foun- 
tainhead.  We  should  find,  for  example,  that 
all  that  Mohammed  is  to  the  Mohammedan,  and 
all  that  Jesus  is  to  the  Christian,  God  himself  is 
to  the  Jew.  We  should  find  that,  as  Jews,  the 
Father  can  do  for  us  all  that  his  prophet  Mo- 
hammed can  do  for  the  Mohammedan,  and  all 
that  Jesus,  who  to  the  many  millions  of  pious 
Christians  stands  as  the  Son  of  God,  can  do  for 
the  Christian. 

As  Jews,  though  deprecating  his  means,  we 
can  not  but  have  a  profound  respect  for  the  ulti- 
mate achievements  of  Mohammed,  who  drank 


TOlbg  "Kemain  Sews  ? 


in  at  the  breast  of  J  udaism  so  many  of  its  beau- 
tiful truths,  and  then  went  forth  to  preach  and 
to  teach  to  the  heathen  of  Asia  the  God  of 
Israel:  the  one  and  only  God.  As  Jews,  we 
can  not  but  have  the  profoundest  respect  for 
the  achievements  of  Christianity,  which  has  up- 
lifted from  a  condition  of  idolatry  and  heathen- 
ism untold  millions,  and  filled  them  with  a  feel- 
ing of  spirituality  and  a  love  for  man  and  God. 
True,  the  Christian  world  is  still  permeated 
altogether  too  much  with  hate  and  iniquity, 
with  wickedness  and  ill-will ;  and  still  indulges 
in  war  and  bloodshed ;  all  this,  however,  is  not 
because  of  the  teachings  of  Christianity,  but 
despite  the  teachings  of  that  great  religion. 
True,  the  Christian  has  not  attained  the  ideal 
established  by  his  religion,  but  mark  his  won- 
derful advancement  from  the  state  of  his  semi- 
savage  ancestor,  who,  before  he  became  a  Chris- 
tian, had  drunk  out  of  the  skull  of  his  enemy. 
Mark  the  Christian's  advancement  from  his  fore- 
idther's  standard,  who,  while  yet  a  heathen, 
pitted  men  against  ferocious  beasts  in  the  arena 
and  delighted  in  seeing  his  fellow  beings  torn 
to  pieces  before  his  very  eyes  by  the  bloodthirsty 
lion  and  the  ferocious  tiger. 


"Ofllbg  "Remain  Sews? 123 

Despite  our  profound  respect  for  such  great 
religious  beliefs  as  Mohammedanism  and  Chris- 
tianity, and  our  admiration  for  the  service  ren- 
dered to  mankind  by  spreading  the  belief  in  the 
God  of  Israel  and  in  the  truths  uttered  by  the 
Jewish  prophets  and  teachers,  we,  as  Jews,  find 
no  cause  to  abandon  our  own  belief.  We  find 
no  cause  to  leave  the  mother  religion  and  to  go 
to  the  daughter.  If,  as  Jews,  we  can  not  "  do 
justly,  love  mercy,  and  walk  humbly  with  God  " 
(see  Micah  vi.  8),  we  are  not  likely  to  do  so  as 
members  of  any  other  faith.  If,  as  Jews,  we 
can  not  so  live  as  to  inherit  the  blessings  of 
this  world  and  of  the  world  to  come,  we  are  not 
likely  to  inherit  them  as  the  followers  of  any 
other  faith. 

To  some  it  may  be  a  comfort  and  a  spiritual 
aid  to  believe  that  some  one,  centuries  ago, 
suffered  for  them,  and,  by  the  forfeiture  of  his 
life,  atoned  for  their  sins.  It  is  not  difficult  to 
understand  how  the  hearts  of  millions  can  be 
touched  and  moved  to  greater  good  by  the 
picture  of  Jesus  on  Calvary.  But  to  the  Jew 
who  is  taught  that  every  man  is  himself  re- 
sponsible to  his  God  for  his  sins,  and  that 
no  one  can  relieve  him  of  his  punishment, 


124  tRflbv  "Remain  Jews? 

/  uO  /WHhe  doctrine  of  jocarious ^atonement  can  make 
no  appeal.  The  Jew  ever  has  felt,  and  ever 
feel,  that  if  he  commits  a  wrong,  myriads 
""of  other  men,  ready  to  suffer  and  to  die  for 
him,  can  not  mitigate  his  sin;  that  he  and 
he  alone,  as  the  sinner,  must  pay  the  penalty ; 
that  he  and  he  alone  must  atone  for  his  mis- 
deed. 

No  other  religion  can  sufficiently  appeal  to 
the  Jew  to  lead  him,  from  conviction,  to 
change  his  belief,  for  the  reason  that,  as 
stated  by  an  eminent  Christian  writer:  "  It  is 
Judaism  which  preaches  true  democracy;  which 
teaches  that  all  men  are  equal ;  that  there  is  no 
superior  but  God,  and  that  all  laws  must  ema- 
nate from  him;  that  no  law  can  be  held  to 
emanate  from  him  unless  it  tends  to  increase 
the  happiness  of  the  whole  people." 

A  modern  Jewess  has  wisely  said :  "  The  final 
test  of  every  religion  is  a  simple  one ;  whether 
or  not  it  brings  us  to  God ;  whether  it  makes  us 
to  know  and  to  love  him ;  whether  it  puts  God 
into  our  life,  not  mechanically  and  perfunctorily, 
but  as  a  living,  working  activity,  as  a  real  and 
holy  presence,  sanctifying  our  whole  existence, 
our  daily  and  practical  life,  our  cares  and  duties, 


IRematn  Jews?  125 


our  sorrows  and  joys,  our  relation  and  service 
to  our  fellow  men." 

If,  as  Jews,  we  do  not  know  God  ;  if  we  do 
not  love  him,  it  is  no  fault  of  Judaism.  It 
would  be  folly  to  change  our  belief  in  the  hope, 
that  as  followers  of  some  other  faith,  we  may 
learn  to  know  and  to  love  him  more  readily. 
Israel  has  been  appointed  as  the  high  priest  of 
humanity  to  perform  a  high  and  sacred  duty. 
Tho  no  nearer  or  dearer  to  God  than  are  any 

•" 

of  his  other  children,  the  Jew  nevertheless  has 
grave  responsibilities.  To  shirk  them  would  be 
to  play  the  part  of  a  coward.  To  fly  from  them 
would  be  to  deserve  the  condemnation  of  man- 
kind. It  is  Israel's  province  tojDreach  the  doc- 
trine that  all  menjiave  SQUJS,  and  that  these 
souls  if  pure  stand  equal  in  the  eyes  of  God; 
that  God's  laws  are  for  all  His  children  and 
are  meant  to  bring  happiness  to  all  the  families 
of  the  human  race.  The  Jew,  despite  suffer- 
ing, despite  persecution,  must  remain  a  Jew 
until  justice,  love,  and  truth  shall  universally 
prevail;  until  hate,  wickedness,  and  injustice 
shall  disappear,  and  until  it  shall  be  universally 
proclaimed  that  "  God  is  one  and  his  name  is 
one."  Then  will  there  no  longer  be  Jew  or 


126  TOibs  "Remain  Jews? 


Gentile;  then  will  all  men  truly  be  brothers; 
then  will  Israel's  mission,  as  the  high  priest  of 
humanity,  have  been  achieved  and  the  prophecy 
have  been  fulfilled  that  in  Abraham  "  shall  all 
the  families  of  the  earth  be  blest." 


9[eto  ana  djrtetfan  intermarry  ? 


VI 

SHALL   JEW    AND  CHRISTIAN   INTER- 
MARRY ? 

MANY  years  ago  I  had  an  intimate  Christian 
friend,  who  has  since  passed  away.  Often  we 
conversed  together  on  subjects  that  were  close 
to  our  hearts.  His  warm  sympathies,  his  broad 
spirit,  his  honorable  pride,  and  his  manly  quali- 
ties won  my  esteem  and  my  affection. 

As  we  learned  to  know  each  other  more  inti- 
mately, there  was  scarcely  a  subject  that  we 
did  not  feel  ourselves  at  liberty  to  discuss  freely 
and  frankly.  Themes  that  between  those  born 
and  reared  in  different  faiths  and  under  the  in- 
fluence of  different  traditions  might  seem  like 
forbidden  subjects,  were  debated  by  us  on  free 
and  open  ground.  That  we  were  friends  in  the 
full  sense  of  the  word  was  made  manifest  by  the 
fact  that  we  did  not  hesitate  to  think  aloud  in 
each  other's  presence.  And  so  in  this  spirit  we 
found  ourselves  discussing  together  one  evening 

what  he  saw  fit  to  term  the  "  Jewish  question." 
9 


i3Q   Sball  5ew  anfr  Cbrtsttan  Intermarry? 

"As  a  friend  of  the  Jews,"  he  said,  "  I  must 
criticize  them  for  the  exclusiveness  and  clannish- 
ness  which  have  done  much  in  the  past  to  make 
them  stand  out  as  a  separate  and  distinct  peo- 
ple." 

"  If  the  Jew  is  clannish  and  exclusive,"  I  an- 
swered, "  it  is  because  he  does  not  care  to  in- 
trude where  he  feels  that  he  may  not  be  wel- 
come." 

"  Not  so,"  he  replied.  "  The  Jew  who  is  edu- 
cated and  cultured  is  welcome  wherever  he  goes. 
If  he  keeps  himself  aloof  he  is  not  only  doing 
others  an  injustice,  but  he  is  doing  a  wrong  to 
himself  as  well." 

Unwilling  to  admit  the  charge  of  wilful  exclu- 
siveness made  against  the  Jew,  I  contended  that 
he  was  mistaken  and  that  the  charge  was  not 
well  founded. 

"  I  will  prove  to  you,"  my  friend  continued, 
"  that  you,  in  common  with  the  other  members 
of  your  faith,  are  also  clannish  and  exclusive." 

Surprised  at  his  statement,  more  especially 
since  I  had  led  myself  to  believe  that  I  made  no 
distinction  of  race,  creed,  or  faith  in  my  friend- 
ships or  associations,  I  challenged  him  to  sub- 
mit his  proof. 


Sball  Jew  an&  Cbristian  intermarry  ?    131 

"  Very  well,"  continued  my  friend.  "  Let  me 
first  ask,  whether  you  regard  me  as  a  man  of 
probity  and  character,  and  a  man  who  is  able  to 
comfortably  support  a  family." 

Assuring  him  that  I  not  only  believed  him  to 
be  a  man  well  able  to  take  good  care  of  a  family, 
but  that  I  was  a  warm  admirer  of  his  character, 
he  continued,  saying:  "Very  well,  then;  let  us 
now  suppose  that  your  little  four-year-old  daugh- 
ter is  grown  into  young  womanhood  and  that 
she  and  I  fall  in  love  with  each  other,  and  that 
I  should  ask  you  for  her  hand.  Knowing  me 
as  you  do,  what  would  be  your  answer? " 

The  question  was  so  direct,  and  so  unexpected, 
that  'I  was  unable  to  make  prompt  reply.  It 
brought  before  me  the  whole  question  of  inter- 
marriage, a  question  to  which  I  had  theretofore 
given  little  or  no  thought,  and  upon  which  I 
had  no  settled  conviction. 

"  Aha ! "  said  my  friend  gleefully  as  he  noted 
my  hesitation.  "  Did  I  not  tell  you  that  you,  in 
common  with  the  other  followers  of  your  faith, 
are  exclusive  and  clannish?  If  we  were  both 
Jews  or  both  Christians  and  I  should  ask  for 
the  hand  of  your  daughter,  and  you  knew  that 
I  was  a  man  of  character,  well  able  to  support 


132    Sball  Sew  ant)  Gbristian  Intermarry? 

her  and  make  her  happy,  you  surely  would  not 
hesitate  to  give  consent;  but  because  I  am  a 
Christian  you  do  hesitate,  and  I  am  sure  you 
can  give  no  reason  for  your  hesitation  other  than 
that  I  am  not  a  Jew.  What  better  proof  do  you 
want  of  your  spirit  of  sectarianism  and  exclu- 
siveness?" 

I  was  compelled  to  acknowledge  that  my 
friend  had  won  his  case  and  that  his  charge  was 
well  founded.  Then  followed  an  exposition  on 
my  part  of  the  thoughts  which,  passing  through 
my  mind  on  hearing  his  question,  had  made  me 
hesitate  to  give  answer.  I  pointed  out  that  the 
results  of  marriage  are  at  best  uncertain;  that 
even  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances, 
where  belief  is  the  same  and  where  the  social 
status  is  the  same,  there  is  ever  the  risk  of  dis- 
cord in  married  life.  Then  how  much  greater 
the  risk  where  there  exists  a  difference  in  be- 
lief, or  in  traditions,  or  in  education  between  the 
contracting  parties  ? 

Continuing,  I  pointed  out  that  where  Jew  and 
Christian  were  equal  in  education  and  in  cul- 
ture and  could  agree  upon  a  common  religious 
belief,  and  where  the  relatives  on  both  sides, 
whose  association  would  have  a  constant  in- 


Sball  3ew  ant)  Cbrtstian  intermarry?   133 

fluence  on  the  husband  and  wife,  looked  with 
favor  upon  the  marriage,  I  could  see  no  reason 
for  objection ;  but  that,  in  my  opinion,  if  Jew  or 
Christian,  or  both,  were  loyal  to  their  respective 
faiths,  and  if,  in  addition  thereto,  the  immediate 
relatives  looked  with  disfavor  upon  the  union, 
then  to  consent  to  such  a  marriage  was  simply 
to  invite  domestic  discord  and  unhappiness.  I 
pointed  out  that  while  youth,  in  its  passion  and 
thoughtlessness,  might  not  stop  to  consider  all 
this,  and,  despite  these  probabilities,  might  rush 
into  marriage,  such  rash  action  would  not  in 
any  way  alter  the  inevitable  results. 

"  Imagine,"  I  continued,  "  a  child  being  born 
into  a  family  where  a  pious  Christian  had  mar- 
ried a  faithful  and  believing  Jewess,  and  imagine 
this  child  reaching  an  age  when  its  religious 
training  should  begin.  Imagine  still  further  the 
friction  and  the  discord  which  must  follow  when 
the  Christian  father  insists  that  the  child  must 
be  brought  up  under  the  influence  of  his  church, 
and  the  Jewish  mother  insists  that  it  must  be 
reared  in  her  faith.  If  the  father's  will  is 
obeyed,  the  mother  is  made  wretched  by  the 
thought  that  her  child  is  being  reared  in  relig- 
ious error.  If  the  mother's  wishes  prevail,  the 


i34   Sball  3ew  ant)  Cbrtsttan  f  ntermarrg  ? 

father  is  made  unhappy  by  the  thought  that  his 
child  is  a  heretic  and  that  the  salvation  of  his 
soul  may  be  imperiled.  Can  such  a  condition 
mean  anything  else  but  the  destruction  of  all 
domestic  happiness?  Is  it  wise  knowingly  to 
court  such  unhappy  possibilities  and  to  place 
in  jeopardy  the  happiness  of  two  souls,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  happiness  of  the  children  likely 
to  be  born  into  such  union? " 

My  friend,  in  turn,  admitted  the  force  of  these 
arguments,  and  confessed  that  the  question  of 
intermarriage  between  those  of  divergent  faiths 
was  a  matter  of  grave  consideration. 

The  Jew  is  not  the  only  one  who  must  pause 
and  ponder  over  the  problem  of  intermar- 
riage. 

I  received  a  call  the  other  day  from  a  young 
man,  who  greatly  surprised  me  by  saying  that 
years  ago,  when  a  boy  not  over  six  or  seven,  he 
caused  some  damage  at  my  place  of  business 
and  hastily  scurried  off.  The  matter  had 
passed  entirely  out  of  his  mind  until  it  came 
back  to  him  a  short  time  ago.  Being  a 
Catholic,  he  was  about  to  attend  the  confes- 
sional, but  before  doing  so,  he  wished  to  make 
restitution  for  the  injury  he  had  committed,  in 


Sball  3ew  anfc  Gbrtstian  fntermarrs?    135 

order  that  he  might  enter  the  confessional  with 
a  clear  conscience.  He  had,  therefore,  come  to 
ask  that  I  assess  the  damage  which  he  stood 
ready  to  pay. 

I  assured  him  I  had  not  the  slightest  recollec- 
tion of  the  circumstances  and  that,  so  far  as  I 
was  concerned,  he  might  consider  himself  ab- 
solved. This  to  him,  however,  was  not  satisfac- 
tory ;  he  insisted  that  I  name  some  amount  and 
permit  him  to  pay  it,  so  that  his  conscience 
might  be  put  at  ease.  Finally,  to  satisfy  him, 
he  was  told  to  assess  the  damage  himself  and 
to  place  the  amount  into  the  charity  box  of  his 
church.  Content  with  this  proposal,  he  thanked 
me  and  was  about  to  take  his  leave,  when, 
prompted  by  the  desire  to  know  more  about 
the  young  man  and  the  spirit  which  led  him  to 
manifest  such  unusual  evidence  of  a  developed 
conscience,  I  engaged  him  in  conversation  and 
led  him  to  tell  me  more  about  himself.  In  the 
course  of  the  conversation  I  learned  that  he  had 
been  a  devout  member  of  the  Catholic  Church 
for  a  number  of  years,  and  that  its  influence 
had  been  to  him  a  source  of  great  moral  and 
religious  happiness.  He  stated  how  by  the  aid 
of  the  church  and  its  religious  teachers  he  had 


136   Sball  -Jew  anfc  Cbristfan  Intermarry? 

kept  out  of  temptation,  and  had  been  aided  to 
lead  a  pure  and  righteous  life. 

"  Are  your  parents  Catholics? "  I  asked. 

"  My  mother  is  a  Catholic  and  my  father  was 
a  Protestant,  but  of  late  years  he  has  become  a 
skeptic  and  a  scoffer,"  he  answered. 

"  How  does  he  look  upon  your  membership 
in  the  church?"  I  asked. 

He  replied:  "  He  ridicules  it  and  jeers  at  both 
my  mother  and  myself  for  our  religious  devo- 
tion." 

"  What  effect  does  that  have  on  your  domes- 
tic relations  ? "  I  asked. 

"  It  makes  mother  and  me  thoroughly 
wretched,  but  it  has  taught  me  a  very  important 
lesson." 

"  May  I  ask  what  is  the  lesson  ?  " 

"  It  has  taught  me  the  lesson,"  he  replied, 
"  never  to  marry  outside  of  my  own  faith." 

"  Am  I  to  understand,  then,  that  if  you  should 
fall  in  love  with  a  woman,  not  of  your  faith,  you 
would  permit  your  religion  to  cross  your  love?  " 

"  I  should  consider  it  a  grave  misfortune  to 
fall  in  love  with  a  woman  not  of  my  faith,  and  if 
she  was  unwilling  to  join  my  church  I  should 
not  marry  her  if  she  should  lay  at  my  feet  all  the 


SbaU  3ew  anfc  Cbrtstfan  flntermarrs?   137 

riches  of  the  Orient.  I  find  happiness  in  my 
religious  faith,  and  since  men  marry  to  secure 
happiness,  I  feel  I  should  be  but  destroying 
mine  to  marry  one  who  could  not  worship  as  I 
worship,  and  who  might  insist  upon  rearing  my 
children  without  a  faith,  or  in  a  faith  that  to  me 
was  error,  and  which  to  me  would  mean  the  loss 
of  their  souls." 

Thus  do  we  see  that  intermarriage  is  a  ques- 
tion not  peculiar  to  the  Jew,  but  is  a  problem,  a 
most  serious  problem,  between  Christians  of 
different  denominations  as  well. 

"  Are  we  to  understand  then  that  you  are  op- 
posed to  intermarriage? "  I  hear  some  ask. 

There  are  some  questions  that  can  not  be 
answered  intelligently  by  a  positive  "yes"  or 
"  no,"  and  this  is  one  of  these  questions.  To 
answer  "  yes  "  would  show  the  spirit  of  narrow- 
mindedness.  To  answer  "  no "  would  be  ap- 
parently to  advocate  endless  domestic  misery  and 
wretchedness.  Each  case  must  be  considered 
separately  and  individually,  and  I  am  therefore 
not  absolutely  opposed  to  intermarriage,  but  am 
in  favor  of  it  only  under  the  proper  conditions. 

There  are  many  who  can  recall  the  time, 
some  decades  ago,  when  an  intermarriage 


138    Sball  3ew  arto  Cbristtan  Intermarry? 

between  Jew  and  Christian  was  of  the  rarest 
occurrence.  They  can  further  remember  when 
such  an  intermarriage  did  take  place,  what  a 
great  sensation  it  created.  The  Christian  was 
ostracized  by  his  friends  and  relatives ;  and  the 
family  of  the  Jew  would  sit  in  mourning  and 
look  upon  him  as  dead.  Rarely  do  we  hear  of 
such  scenes  to-day. 

But  a  few  years  ago,  in  discussing  the  ques- 
tion with  one  of  our  former  rabbis,  the  point 
arose  as  to  what  percentage  of  intermarriages 
existed  in  our  midst.  We  estimated  such  mar- 
riages to  be  about  two  or  three  per  cent,  of 
our  Jewish  community.  On  making  out  a  care- 
ful list,  imagine  our  surprise  to  find  that  they 
represented  fully  ten  per  cent,  of  our  Jewish 
population.  Analyzing  the  conditions,  as  well 
as  we  could,  we  found  that,  as  a  rule,  these  mar- 
riages had  occurred  between  those  who  were 
either  indifferent  to  their  faith,  or  who  had  been 
able  to  come  to  a  satisfactory  understanding 
as  to  their  religious  worship  and  the  religious 
training  of  their  children.  We  further  found 
that,  so  far  as  it  was  possible  to  know,  these 
marriages  seemed  fully  as  happy  in  their  results 
as  those  between  Christians  or  between  Jews,  an 


Sball  3ew  anfc  Cbristian  Intermarry?    139 

absence  of  divorces  being  notable  among  those 
who  had  thus  intermarried. 

The  time  may  come  when  there  will  be  but 
one  church,  the  Church  Universal;  a  time 
when  all  men  will  worship  at  one  footstool. 
When  that  day  shall  have  come,  the  problem 
of  intermarriage  will  have  disappeared,  and  no 
longer  will  there  be  a  question  of  Catholic  or 
Protestant,  Jew  or  Christian;  but,  so  long  as 
differing  faiths  and  differing  creeds  exist,  and 
so  long  as  men  and  women  remain  firm  fol- 
lowers of  such  faiths  and  earnestly  believe  in 
the  doctrine  that  to  accept  any  other  is  to  de- 
stroy one's  soul,  so  long  should  thoughtless 
intermarriage  be  discouraged.  For  men  and 
women  born  and  reared  in  different  religious 
atmospheres  to  rush  into  marriage  without 
consideration  of  the  influence  their  religious 
thought  and  training  will  have  upon  their  lives 
is  to  hazard  their  future  happiness,  and  to  in- 
crease the  possibility  of  causing  more  hu- 
man misery  and  more  domestic  wretchedness.  * 
Where  Jew  can  honestly  become  Christian  or 
Christian  can  honestly  become  Jew,  or  where 
one  is  willing  to  yield  in  all  religious  matters  to 
the  other,  these  risks  are  much  lessened.  All 


MO   Sball  3ew  ant>  Cbristiau  intermarry  T 

other  things  being  equal,  there  can  then  be  no 
good  reason  why  happiness  should  not  follow. 
I  have  known  marriages  of  this  sort  to  bring  the 
most  perfect  domestic  happiness. 

"  But,"  I  hear  the  Christian  say,  "  if  Chris- 
tians are  to  intermarry  with  Jews  and  become 
converted,  what  is  to  become  of  Christianity?" 
And,  on  the  other  hand,  I  hear  the  Jew  say:  "  If 
Jews  are  to  intermarry  with  Christians  and  be- 
come members  of  that  faith,  what  is  to  become 
of  Judaism?" 

My  answer  to  both  is,  that  God  is  neither  Jew- 
ish nor  Christian.  He  is  the  Father  of  the  whole 
human  family,  and  he  loves  all  his  children 
equally  well,  no  matter  by  what  name  he  is 
called,  and  no  matter  whether  he  be  wor- 
shiped in  synagog  or  church.  Judaism  and 
Christianity  are  but  two  out  of  many  ways  of 
reaching  God.  The  purpose  of  both  beliefs  is 
simply  to  bring  men  and  women  nearer  to  their 
Maker.  The  Christian  who  follows  the  teach- 
ings of  his  belief  can  not  but  lead  a  pure  and 
righteous  life,  and  hence  is  brought  nearer  to 
God.  The  Jew  who  faithfully  observes  the 
commandments  of  his  religion  can  not  but  be  a 
manly  and  a  godly  man,  and  therefore  is  like- 


Sball  3ew  an&  Cbrfstian  irntermarrs?    141 

wise  brought  nearer  to  his  Maker.  Hence, 
should  a  Jew  honestly  become  a  true  Christian, 
or  a  Christian  become  a  true  Jew,  the  soul  of 
neither  can  be  injured  by  the  change.  In  either 
event  both  will  be  destined  to  "  rejoice  in  God's 
grace  and  exult  in  his  justice." 

But,  unless  the  Christian  can  honestly  become 
Jew,  or  the  Jew  can  honestly  become  Christian, 
or  unless  both  can,  without  prejudice,  tolerate 
the  belief  of  the  other,  greater  happiness  will  re- 
sult if  each  will  marry  within  the  bounds  of  his 
own  faith. 

This  view  may  be  disappointing  to  the  one 
who  hopes  that  to-morrow,  or  next  week,  or 
next  year,  may  bring  about  the  universal  brother- 
hood. But  wiser  by  far  must  it  be  not  to  attempt 
to  hasten  such  a  day  at  the  expense  of  human 
happiness.  Better  by  far  that  the  process  of  com- 
ing together  shall  be  slower  and  safer,  that  need- 
less human  suffering  and  sorrow  be  saved,  that 
the  present  ratio  of  intermarriages  on  the  part  of 
Jews  with  Christians  shall  be  increased  only  as 
the  liberality  of  spirit  and  the  broadening  of  re- 
ligious tolerance  will  permit,  than  to  encourage 
thoughtless  intermarriage  with  its  consequent 
unhappy  results. 


142    Sball  3ew  anfc  Cbristian  Intermarry? 

God  builds  slowly,  but  wisely.  He  has  so 
made  man  that  he  must  crawl  before  he  can 
walk.  Surely  he  must  have  in  mind  the  final 
bringing  together  of  all  his  children  under  the 
banner  of  human  brotherhood,  when  all  the  arti- 
ficial barriers  of  creed  and  denomination  erected 
by  man  shall  disappear,  and  all  men  shall  look 
upon  one  another  as  the  children  of  one  Father 
and  the  members  of  one  human  family. 

May  men  hasten  such  a  day  by  filling  their 
minds  with  knowledge  and  their  hearts  with 
love,  by  cultivating  a  broad,  tolerant,  and  gener- 
ous spirit,  and  by  respecting  the  religious  beliefs 
of  others,  however  much  they  may  differ  from 
their  own.  Only  in  this  way  can  the  day  be 
brought  nearer  when  intermarriage  may  be 
safely  increased,  and  when  those  born  under 
Jewish  influences  may  become  stronger  and 
nobler  by  marriage  with  Christians,  and  those 
born  under  Christian  influences  may  become 
better  and  purer  by  marriage  with  Jews. 


C^e  dSteategt  jftan  of 


VII 

MOSES,  THE  GREATEST   MAN  OF   AN- 
TIQUITY 

THE  fact  that  the  world's  great  scholars  proved 
that  myth  and  legend  had  crept  into  the  Bible, 
that  writing  had  been  unknown  among  the 
Hebrews  until  four  hundred  years  after  their 
exodus  from  Egypt,  and  that  much  of  the  Penta- 
teuch must  be  considered  as  tradition  rather  than 
as  history,  makes  it  difficult  to  give  an  authentic 
account  of  the  life  of  Moses.  Following  the 
Biblical  story  of  his  career,  we  find  that  he  was 
born  in  Egypt  at  a  time  when  Pharaoh,  fearing 
the  rapid  increase  of  the  Israelites,  had  issued 
an  edict  that  all  new-born  male  Hebrew  children 
should  perish.  The  uncpmmon  beauty  of  the 
infant  Moses  moved  his  mother  to  make  an 
extraordinary  effort  to  save  his  life.  After  se- 
creting him  for  three  months,  the  fear  of  detec- 
tion led  her  to  place  him  in  a  basket  lined  with 
pitch,  which  she  hid  in  the  bulrushes  near  the 
shore,  where  he  was  discovered  by  one  of  the 


IO 


146   /Doses,  tbe  (Breatest  fl&an  of  Hntf quits 

maids,  who  accompanied  the  princess  to  her 
daily  bath. 

The  extreme  beauty  of  the  child  appealed  so 
strongly  to  Pharaoh's  daughter  that  she  decided 
to  adopt  him  as  her  own.  At  the  suggestion  of 
his  sister,  Miriam,  who  stood  at  hand  to  watch 
the  fate  of  the  little  one,  the  infant's  mother 
was  called  and  employed  by  the  princess  to  per- 
form the  part  of  nurse.  In  due  time  the  child 
was  returned  to  the  princess,  and  was  adopted 
by  her  as  her  son,  whom  she  called  Moses,  as 
she  said  because  he  had  been  drawn  out  of  the 
water. 

It  seems  like  the  hand  of  destiny  that  a  mem- 
ber of  the  race  which  Pharaoh  was  trying  to 
cripple  should  become  one  of  the  royal  house- 
hold, receive  the  benefit  of  the  highest  educa- 
tion attainable  at  the  time,  and  that  he  should 
use  the  same  toward  weakening  the  power  of 
Egypt. 

Among  the  legends  told  of  the  childhood 
of  Moses  is  one  related  in  the  Koran,  which 
explains  the  impediment  in  his  speech  in  the 
following  manner: 

"  Pharaoh  one  day  carrying  him  in  his  arms 
when  Moses  was  a  child,  he  suddenly  laid  hold 


flDoses,  tbe  Greatest  flDan  of  Hntiqutts    147 

of  Pharaoh's  beard  and  plucked  it  in  a  very 
rough  manner,  which  put  Pharaoh  into  such  a 
passion  that  he  ordered  him  put  to  death.  But 
Asia,  his  wife,  representing  to  him  that  he  was 
but  a  child,  who  could  not  distinguish  between 
a  burning  coal  and  a  ruby,  he  ordered  the  ex- 
periment to  be  made.  A  live  coal  and  a  ruby 
being  set  before  Moses,  he  took  the  coal  and 
put  it  into  his  mouth  and  burnt  his  tongue,  and 
•v  thereupon  he  was  pardoned." 

We  know  little  about  the  life  of  Moses  until 
he  reached  the  age  of  forty,  excepting  what  we 
gather  from  certain  traditions  which  tell  that  as 
a  young  man  he  was  given  command  of  an  army 
and  sent  to  conquer  the  Ethiopians,  who  had 
overrun  Egypt.  By  skilful  generalship,  he 
drove  the  enemy  back  to  their  own  country, 
closely  following  up  his  victory  until  he  found 
himself  and  his  conquering  army  at  the  very 
gates  of  Saba,  the  royal  city  of  Ethiopia,  which 
he  meant  to  besiege.  While  he  was  supervi- 
sing the  preparations  for  the  siege,  Tharbis,  the 
daughter  of  the  King  of  Ethiopia,  caught  sight 
of  Moses,  and  because  of  his  military  bravery 
and  skill,  and  his  handsome  and  attractive  per- 
sonality, fell  in  love  with  him,  and,  through  the 


1 48   flDoses,  tbe  Greatest  flDan  of  antiquity 

medium  of  a  faithful  servant,  made  overtures  to 
him  of  marriage.  Moses  accepted  the  offer, 
made  satisfactory  terms  of  peace  with  the  ene- 
my, married  the  princess,  and  led  the  Egyptians 
back  to  their  own  land. 

Having  reached  the  age  of  forty  with  appar- 
ently no  other  view  in  life  than  to  become 
a  member  of  the  Egyptian  priesthood,  he  found 
himself  confronted  one  day  with  an  Egyptian 
task-master,  who  was  smiting  one  of  his  Hebrew 
brethren.  The  decisive  hour  of  his  life  had 
come.  He  must  decide  whether  to  cast  his  lot 
with  his  oppressed  brethren  or  continue  as  a 
member  of  the  royal  Egyptian  family.  As  an 
Egyptian,  it  could  be  no  concern  of  his  to  see  a 
Hebrew  slave  punished  by  his  task-master.  As 
a  Hebrew,  his  blood  must  have  boiled  to  see  one 
of  his  helpless  brethren  set  upon  and  cruelly 
beaten  by  a  heartless  overseer.  If  a  struggle 
arose  within  him  between  love  of  ease  and 
luxury  on  the  one  hand,  and  love  for  his 
brethren  and  hatred  of  wrong  and  oppression 
on  the  other,  his  sense  of  manhood  must  have 
prevailed,  and  led  him  to  smite  the  Egyptian 
and  hide  his  body  in  the  sand.  His  experience 
of  the  next  day  settled  his  fate.  Intervening 


flDoses,  tbe  Greatest  flDan  of  Bntiquits    149 

as  a  peacemaker  between  two  quarreling  He- 
brew slaves,  he  was  accused  by  them  of  having 
killed  the  Egyptian.  When  the  matter  be- 
came known  Pharaoh  sought  to  slay  Moses, 
but  he  fled  and  found  his  way  to  the  land  of 
Midian.  While  at  rest  at  a  well,  his  manliness 
was  again  put  to  the  test.  The  seven  daughters 
of  the  priest  of  Midian  came  to  draw  water  for 
their  father's  flocks,  but  were  driven  off  by  Ara- 
bian shepherds.  But  Moses  drove  off  the  rude 
shepherds,  and  the  young  women  were  enabled 
to  water  their  flocks.  When  the  priest  of  Mid- 
ian heard  of  the  conduct  of  Moses,  he  offered 
him  a  home  and  gave  him  his  daughter  Zip- 
porah  as  a  wife. 

For  forty  years  Moses  dwelt  in  the  land. of 
Midian,  leading  the  peaceful  and  uneventful  life 
of  a  shepherd. 

At  the  age  of  eighty,  when  most  men  are 
thinking  of  death,  and  preparing  to  end  their 
days,  the  news  came  to  Moses  that  his  brethren 
in  the  land  of  Egypt  were  oppressed  more  than 
ever.  The  desire  was  aroused  within  him  to  free 
them  from  bondage,  and  to  lead  them  out  of 
the  land  of  slavery  into  a  new  country  where 
they  might  work  out  their  own  destiny.  Un- 


150   flDoses,  tbe  Greatest  flDan  of 

aided,  except  by  his  brother  Aaron,  and  with  a 
firm  faith  in  his  God,  he  presented  himself  be- 
fore the  new  Pharaoh,  who  during  the  interven- 
ing forty  years  had  ascended  the  throne,  and 
demanded  that  the  children  of  Israel  be  per- 
mitted to  depart  from  Egypt.  The  boldness  of 
the  demand  stands  unparalleled.  To  venture 
as  Moses  did  before  a  mighty  and  despotic  ruler 
with  no  greater  reenforcement  than  a  shepherd's 
staff,  demanding  that  he  let  a  vast  number  of 
his  valuable  bondmen  free,  was  in  itself  an  act 
of  sublime  courage.  To  persist  in  the  demand, 
after  it  had  been  refused,  and  to  do  so  in  the 
face  of  the  fact  that  the  despot  had  doubled  the 
task  of  his  slaves  because  of  the  demand  made 
for  their  release,  was  a  courage  still  more 
sublime. 

Literature  does  not  record  a  more  remark- 
able instance  of  moral  and  physical  courage. 
On  the  one  hand,  we  have  the  picture  of  the 
utter  contempt  with  which  the  demand  of  Moses 
was  treated  by  Pharaoh,  who  made  his  feelings 
manifest  by  compelling  the  Hebrew  bond- 
men thereafter  to  find  their  own  straw  to  make 
bricks;  and,  when  they  cried  aloud  that  they 
were  compelled  to  make  as  many  bricks  as  be- 


,  tbe  Greatest  fl&an  of  Bntiquitp    151 

fore,  and  to  find  their  own  straw,  and  were 
beaten  by  the  royal  task-masters  for  their  failure 
to  do  the  impossible,  he  drove  them  forth  and 
instructed  the  overseers  to  enforce  rigidly  his 
orders.  On  the  other  hand,  we  find  Moses  be- 
set by  his  brethren,  who  had  charged  him  with 
being  the  cause  of  their  greater  misfortunes, 
and  who  looked  upon  him  as  an  enemy,  because 
through  him  their  burdens  had  been  made 
heavier. 

Moses,  however,  never  failed  in  courage,  and 
finally  he  found  himself  at  the  head  of  his 
brethren,  who  at  last  were  permitted  to  leave 
the  land  of  their  bondage  by  the  reluctant 
Pharaoh,  who  had  become  terrified  by  the  awful 
visitations  upon  his  land  and  his  people,  which 
he  was  led  to  believe  were  inflicted  upon  Egypt 
because  of  his  refusal  to  let  the  Hebrews 
go. 

After  Moses  had  accomplished  the  high  pur- 
pose of  setting  his  enslaved  brethren  free,  it 
might  be  supposed  that  his  life-work  was  at  a 
close,  and  that  he  could  now  end  his  days  in 
peace,  happy  in  the  knowledge  that  he  was  a 
great  liberator  who  had  won  for  the  down-trod- 
den and  the  oppressed  the  great  boon  of  free- 


»5*    flDoses,  tbe  Greatest  /Ban  of  Hntuiuitv 

dom.  But  instead  of  his  task  being  ended,  it 
was  just  begun.  No  sooner  did  he  find  him- 
self in  the  wilderness  than  he  was  made  to 
realize  that  difficult  as  had  been  the  task  be- 
hind him,  the  task  before  him  was  still  more 
so.  He  found  himself  surrounded  by  a  horde  of 
freed  slaves,  who  through  hundreds  of  years 
of  oppression  and  degradation  had  lost  all  sense 
of  appreciation  of  freedom  and  of  the  work 
achieved  for  them  by  Moses.  The  task  before 
him  was  simply  appalling.  The  lamentations 
and  the  cries  of  young  and  old  for  the  flesh-pots 
of  Egypt,  for  the  food  and  shelter  which  slavery 
had  insured,  but  which  freedom  in  the  wilderness 
made  uncertain  and  precarious,  raised  a  storm 
which  would  have  unnerved  a  giant.  It  was  this 
crisis  that  brought  out  the  greatness  of  Moses 
and  his  power  over  men,  a  power  that  finally 
enabled  him  to  control  the  turbulent  spirits  by 
which  he  was  surrounded,  and  to  regain  their 
obedience  and  confidence. 

No  other  leader  in  history  had  the  task  of 
taking  a  horde  of  unthinking  freedmen,  more 
or  less  degraded,  and  making  of  them  self-gov- 
erning citizens.  Republicanism  and  democracy 
were  up  to  that  time  words  unknown  in  the 


/Doses,  tbe  Greatest  flDan  ot  Bntfquitg    153 

vocabulary  of  men./  It  seemed  the  natural  con- 
cfition  thaFllie  human  family  was  to  be  ruled 
by  kings  and  despots,  and  the  thought  of  self- 
government  had  not  as  yet  entered  the  human 
mind.  With  the  traditions  of  royalty  hoary 
with  age,  even  the  enlightened  and  the  cultured 
would  not  have  attempted  to  establish  among 
themselves  any  government  other  than  a  mon- 
archy or  a  despotism;  and  yet,  we  have  one 
man  who  though  possessing  the  power  to  make 
himself  a  monarch,  and  establish  a  hereditary 
kingdom,  set  aside  whatever  natural  love  he 
might  have  had  for  the  power  of  royalty,  and 
established  a  theocracy,  a  government  of  which 
God  was  the  King  and  all  the  people  were  his 
subjects.  If  the  thought  of  self  had  been  upper- 
most with  Moses,  it  would  have  been  an  easy 
matter  for  him  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  all 
other  leaders  of  his  time,  to  have  himself  de- 
clared king,  and,  in  common  with  most  other 
rulers  of  his  period,  to  have  himself  regarded  as 
a  demigod,  and  demand  worship  from  his  sub- 
jects. But  instead  of  that,  Moses  established, 
for  the  first  time  in  man's  history,  the  doctrine 
of  liberty  and  equality. 

Abraham,  according  to  the  Bible,  was  the 


154   flDoses,  tbe  Greatest  flDan  of  Bntfqutt$ 

first  to  conceive  the  idea  of  a  spiritual  God  and 
to  proclaim  monotheism  in  contradistinction  to 
the  prevailing  belief  of  polytheism ;  and  Moses 
was  the  first  to  preach  this  belief  to  a  whole 
people.  It  is  pointed  out  that  "Jehovah,  ac- 
cording to  Moses,  was  not  merely  the  God  of 
Israel ;  as  such  he  was  the  God  at  once  of  law 
and  justice;  the  basis,  the  informing  principle, 
and  the  implied  postulate  of  their  national  con- 
scientiousness." 

It  seems  most  remarkable  that  Moses  could 
have  taken  men,  filled  with  the  superstitions 
they  had  imbibed  while  living  for  hundreds  of 
years  in  Egypt,  rude,  ignorant,  unlettered,  and 
degraded,  and  implant  in  their  hearts  any  con- 
ception whatsoever  of  an  unimaged,  invisible 
God.  Even  the  educated  and  enlightened  of 
the  time  demanded  an  imaged  and  visible  God, 
such  as  the  sun,  the  moon,  or  animals ;  stone  or 
wooden  idols,  something  that  they  could  see  or 
feel.  Yet  Moses  gave  his  people  none  of  these. 
They  must  believe  in  a  spirit  which  man  could 
not  "  see  and  live  "  ;  a  spirit  which  is  omnipres- 
ent, yet  beyond  the  power  of  the  human  eye  to 
discern ;  a  spirit  which  is  almighty  and  yet  is 
never  to  show  itself  except  by  its  works ;  a  spirit 


,  tbe  Greatest  /Ban  of  Hntiqutts    155 

which  is  without  form  and  without  body,  and 
yet  makes  itself  felt  everywhere.  Like  the  artist 
who  takes  the  most  common  stone  and  pro- 
duces the  highest  specimen  of  sculpture,  so 
Moses  took  a  degraded  type  of  humanity  and 
implanted  in  their  hearts  the  highest  conception 
of  Deity. 

His  purpose  in  all  this  was  to  teach  Israel 
righteousness.  He  well  knew  that  righteous- 
ness and  idolatry  can  not  go  hand-in-hand,  that 
few  idolaters,  if  any,  were  or  could  be  righteous. 
He  knew  that  the  people  whom  he  meant  to 
mold  into  a  nation  could  not  survive,  if  they  led 
unrighteous  lives,  and  that  unless  they  could  be 
taught  to  abandon  idolatry  and  become  believ- 
ers in  the  one  and  only  God,  they  were  destined 
to  perish.  How  well  he  succeeded  is  told  by 
the  brilliant  German  poet  Heine,  who,  speaking 
of  Moses,  says: 

"  He  built  human  pyramids,  carved  human 
obelisks;  he  took  a  poor  shepherd  family  and 
created  a  nation  from  it,  a  great,  eternal,  holy 
people,  a  people  of  God,  destined  to  outlive  cen- 
turies, and  to  serve  as  a  pattern  to  all  other 
nations,  even  as  a  prototype  to  the  whole  of 
mankind ;  he  created  Israel." 


156   fl&oses,  tbe  Greatest  flDan  of  Hntiquits 

It  is  true,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  that  thou- 
sands of  years  before  Moses  was  born,  the 
Egyptians  had  laws  against  blasphemy,  murder, 
adultery,  larceny,  perjury,  and  upon  nearly 
every  subject  of  human  interest,  but  despite 
their  high  standard  of  civilization  the  Egyptians 
worshiped  their  kings  as  gods,  and  bowed  down 
before  sacred  bulls  and  practised  all  sorts  of 
abominations. 

The  spirit  of  the  Pharaohs  was  one  of  injus- 
tice. Most  of  the  land  belonged  to  the  king. 
The  people,  at  best,  were  his  tenants.  At  his 
pleasure  he  could  compel  them  to  perform  what- 
ever service  he  deemed  necessary.  Human  lives 
to  him  were  no  more  sacred  than  the  lives  of  so 
many  flies.  Untold  millions  of  hours  of  unre- 
quited human  toil  were  expended  in  the  build- 
ing of  the  pyramids,  and  in  the  great  piles  that 
were  to  contain  the  withered  mummies  of  roy- 
alty. The  task-masters  freely  used  the  whip 
and  the  lash  on  the  backs  of  the  unfortunate 
subjects,  who  were  looked  upon  as  dumb  cattle. 
The  whip  and  the  lash  became  unknown  under 
the  government  established  by  Moses.  The 
rights  of  the  humblest  Israelite  were  as  much 
respected  as  were  the  rights  of  Moses  himself. 


,  tbe  Greatest  flDan  of  Hntiquitg    157 

In  matters  of  law  there  was  no  wresting  of  judg- 
ment and  no  respecting  of  persons.  There  was 
manhood  suffrage.  Duties,  rights,  and  responsi- 
bilities were  made  common  to  all. 

Moses,  as  a  far-seeing  statesman,  saw  that  the 
safety  of  his  people  lay  in  establishing  condi- 
tions which  as  far  as  possible  would  prevent  a 
king,  should  they  choose  to  have  one,  from  be- 
coming the  absolute  owner  of  the  soil,  and 
at  the  same  time  prevent  the  few  from  becom- 
ing land  rich  and  the  many  from  becoming 
land  poor.  This  prompted  the  enactment  of 
the  law  creating  the  Jubilee  Year.  In  the 
fiftieth  year  the  land  reverted  to  its  original 
owner  or  to  his  heirs.  Land  monopoly  was 
thus  made  impossible  on  the  part  of  the  rich  or 
on  the  part  of  the  ruler.  If  the  agrarian  system 
established  by  Moses  were  in  force  to-day,  im- 
agine how  impossible  would  be  the  conditions, 
such  as  prevail  in  Ireland,  cursed  as  it  is  with 
a  system  of  absentee  landlordism  and  farm 
tenancies.  The  wretched  Irish  farmer  ekes  out 
a  miserable  existence,  while  the  idle  landlord 
lives  abroad  as  a  man  of  pleasure  on  the  rentals 
of  the  tenants,  which  literally  come  from  the 
sweat  of  their  brows.  The  land  system  of 


158   flDoses,  tbe  Greatest  /Ban  of  antiquity 

Moses  would  mean  no  landed  millionaires,  no 
landless  poor,  and  no  paupers. 

The  spirit  of  absolute  equality  which  ruled 
the  mind  of  Moses  is  made  manifest  by  the  law 
that  the  meanest  subject  should  possess  a  por- 
tion of  land  no  larger  and  no  smaller  than  the 
greatest  in  Israel.  In  this,  as  in  other  things, 
Moses  cut  himself  away  from  all  tradition  and 
from  all  the  influence  of  his  Egyptian  training 
and  education.  He  seemingly  made  the  high- 
est use  of  his  broad  and  liberal  education  en- 
joyed as  a  member  for  forty  years  of  the  royal 
household,  not  in  blindly  following  the  footsteps 
of  his  educators,  but  in  profiting  by  his  trained 
powers  to  observe,  to  reason,  and  to  think.  He 
clearly  saw  the  evils  of  the  systems  by  which  he 
had  been  surrounded  and  in  his  own  mind 
worked  out  the  remedies.  Now  that  the  oppor- 
tunity was  before  him  he  put  them  into  practise, 
and  the  ages  since  passed  have  proved  his  ge- 
nius as  the  world's  greatest  lawmaker  and 
statesman. 

That  Moses  imbibed  much  from  his  Egyptian 
education  and  environment  is,  no  doubt,  true. 
He  had  been  educated  in  the  House  of  §etjj.the 
greatest  university  of  his  time.  He  had  been 


flDoses,  tbe  Greatest  flDan  of  Bntiqutts    159 

taught  by  the  wisest  teachers  of  the  age.  He 
had  had  at  his  command  the  greatest  consult- 
ing libraries,  the  library  of  the  Ramesseum  of 
Thebes.  He  should  not  have  been  entitled  to 
be  called  a  great  and  wise  man,  had  he  not 
made  the  best  and  highest  use  of  all  that  Egyp- 
tian civilization  and  jurisprudence,  religion,  and 
morality  had  to  offer.  His  wisdom,  however, 
was  shown  in  knowing  what  to  avoid  and  in  his 
power  of  initiative,  the  power  to  devise  new 
laws  theretofore  unknown  or  untried :  the  laws, 
such  as  that  of  a  common  tenure  of  land  and  of 
the  Jubilee  Year ;  the  law  of  equality  and  liberty ; 
the  law  of  manhood  suffrage. 

With  all  his  marvelous  power  as  a  leader  and 
a  statesman,  he  assumed  no  titles  and  asked  for 
no  privileges.  He  did  not  even  ask  succession 
for  his  son.  Joshua,  a  man  of  another  tribe,  is 
selected  by  him  to  be  his  successor. 

The  practise  of  the  rulers  of  his  time  was  to 
keep  the  people  in  densest  ignorance  in  order 
that  they  might  more  readily  bear  the  heavy 
burdens  placed  upon  them.  The  hope  and 
aim  of  Moses  were  to  educate  and  enlighten  his 
people  so  that  they  "might  become  fitted  for  self- 
government.  It  was  this  desire  that  led  him 


160   fl&oses,  tbe  Greatest  flDan  of  Bntf quits 

to  say:  "  Would  God  that  all  the  Lord's  people 
were  prophets  and  that  the  Lord  would  put 
His  spirit  upon  them."  That  Moses  too  was 
human,  and  that  he  had  his  share  of  human 
weaknesses  is  made  plain  by  the  story  of  his 
life,  as  told  in  the  Pentateuch.  This  makes  his 
achievements  seem  the  more  remarkable,  and 
singles  him  out  as  the  greatest  and  most  lovable 
man  of  antiquity.  We  read  how  impetuous  and 
impatient  he  was  at  times;  how  at  times  he 
lacked  in  self-possession  and  self-control;  how 
he  was  "  slow  of  speech  and  of  a  slow  tongue," 
and  how  he  made  no  pretensions  to  military 
generalship  nor  to  the  power  of  a  skilled  organ- 
izer and  administrator.  It  remained  for  his 
father-in-law,  Jethro,  to  suggest  the  appointment 
of  judges  over  thousands,  over  hundreds,  over 
fifties,  and  over  tens,  so  that  Moses  might  be 
relieved  from  all  detail  and  thus  be  enabled  to 
give  his  time  and  thought  to  the  greater  issues 
that  were  to  be  met  and  dealt  with.  And  yet, 
with  all  these  faults,  we  read  how  tender,  how 
just,  and  how  merciful  he  was.  It  is  the  men 
with  great  passions  who,  after  all,  are  likely  to  be 
the  most  tender.  The  men  with  strong,  turbu- 
lent spirits  which  at  times  roar  and  rage  within 


fl&oses,  tbc  Greatest  /Ban  of  Entiquits    161 

them  are  they  who  have  the  highest  sense  of 
gentleness.  It  is  the  strong  characters  who  can 
face  the  fury  of  the  lion,  that  also  know  how  to 
wipe  away  the  tear  of  the  infant — men  in  whom 
the  extremes  meet,  in  whom  passion  melts  into 
tenderness,  and  storm  is  soothed  by  gentleness, 
and  wrath  meets  sympathy,  and  rage  is  tem- 
pered by  mercy.  The  great  are  often  bundles 
of  paradoxes.  Storm  is  likely  to  come  where 
gentleness  is  expected,  and  tenderness  is  likely 
to  be  exhibited  where  wrath  is  looked  for.  The 
great  are  like  nature  itself,  which  sends  the  ter- 
rific hail-storm  and  the  gentle  dew,  the  raging 
tempest  and  the  soft  zephyr. 

Moses  was  strong  in  his  wrath,  violent  in  his 
anger,  severe  but  tender,  just  but  merciful. 
When  on  his  return  from  Mount  Sinai  he 
found  that  during  his  absence  of  forty  days  the 
people  had  forced  Aaron  to  make  for  them  a 
golden  calf  before  which  they  had  bowed  down 
and  worshiped,  his  fury  knew  no  bounds.  The 
tablets  of  the  law  which  were  to  be  the  great- 
est gift  to  Israel  and  to  the  world  he  cast  upon 
the  ground  and  broke  them  into  many  pieces. 
In  his  wrath  he  took  the  golden  calf,  burnt 
it,  ground  it  to  a  powder,  strewed  it  upon  the 


ii 


i6»   fl&o0e0,  tbc  Greatest  flDan  of  Bntf quits 

waters,  and  made  the  people  drink  of  it.  He 
ordered  the  ringleaders  and  their  followers  to 
be  slain,  and  three  thousand  were  put  to  death. 
But  his  anger  subsided,  he  went  before  his 
God  and  prayed  that  mercy  and  forgiveness  be 
meted  out  to  the  sinners.  He  said :  "  Oh,  this 
people  hath  sinned  a  great  sin,  and  they  have 
made  themselves  gods  of  gold.  Yet  now,  if 
thou  wilt,  forgive  their  sin, — but  if  not,  blot  me 
out,  I  pray  thee,  from  thy  book  which  thou  hast 
written."  The  forgiveness  of  the  sins  of  his 
people  was  dearer  and  closer  to  him  than  his  own 
welfare.  His  first  thought  was  mercy  and  for- 
giveness for  them,  his  last  thought  was  for  self. 
So  it  has  been  with  God's  anointed  all  through 
the  ages. 

The  truly  great  are  not  the  Alexanders,  the 
Caesars,  and  the  Napoleons  who  did  great 
things  and  recorded  great  achievements  at 
frightful  cost  to  humanity;  all  for  self-love,  all 
for  selfish  ambition;  all  for  their  own  aggran- 
dizement. The  truly  great  are  such  as  Moses, 
Jesus  of  Nazareth,  Socrates,  Spinoza,  Luther, 
Washington,  Lincoln,  who  had  no  selfish  aims, 
no  thought  of  selfish  power,  no  itching  for 
material  rewards,  who  lived  that  others  might 


,  tbe  Greatest  flDan  of  Hnttquitg   163 

be  free  and  who  were  ever  ready  to  die  that 
others  might  live. 

As  James  Freeman  Clarke  points  out: 

"  Tho  reared  in  an  Egyptian  court  under  the 
influence  of  the  Egyptian  priesthood,  Moses 
teaches  nothing  of  popular  myths,  of  Osiris,  Isis, 
Horus,  and  Typhon,  nothing  of  the  transmi- 
gration of  the  soul,  nothing  of  the  worship  of 
animals,  nothing  of  the  future  life  and  judgment 
to  come,  nothing  of  the  embalming  of  bodies 
and  ornamenting  of  tombs. 

"  The  religion  of  Egypt  is  gone,  is  dead.  It 
was  a  religion  of  priests,  for  priests  and  by 
priests.  The  religion  of  Moses  lives;  lives  in 
Judaism,  in  Christianity,  in  Mohammedanism. 
It  lives  because  it  is  a  religion  of  the  people  and 
for  the  people." 

His  wisdom  as  a  statesman  stands  unequaled. 
Politically,  the  government  established  by  Moses 
was  the  highest  form  of  free  government.  The 
laws  were  theocratic ;  there  was  but  one  and  only 
King  and  he  was  God,  the  prime  Lawmaker 
whose  laws  were  fixed  and  not  subject  to  the 
whims  or  the  arbitrary  decrees  of  the  governors. 
The  taxes  were  likewise  fixed,  and  in  no  event 
could  be  greater  than  a  poll-tax  of  half  a  shekel 


164   /Doses,  tbe  Greatest  /Ban  of  Hntiqutts 

paid  every  year  at  the  temple  by  every  adult 
Jew,  and  a  tenth  part  of  the  annual  product  of 
the  soil  for  the  support  of  the  Levites  and  the 
expense  of  the  government.  To  appreciate  the 
merit  of  his  system,  it  must  be  compared  with  the 
condition  that  had  existed  in  Egypt  as  pointed 
out  in  an  interesting  collection  of  letters  made 
by  a  priest  who  lived  in  the  reign  of  Rameses  II. 
The  writer  of  the  letters  exclaims  to  some 
friend  whom  he  is  persuading  to  enter  the 
priestly  office  for  a  piece  of  bread,  instead  of 
choosing  the  profession  of  a  farmer:  "Only 
consider  how  wretched  the  condition  of  the 
countryman  is  who  spends  his  life  tilling  the 
land.  Before  he  begins  to  cut  his  corn,  insects 
destroy  part  of  the  crop;  multitudes  of  rats  get 
into  his  field;  then  come  the  locusts.  Stray 
cattle  trespass  and  devour  the  ripe  corn ;  flocks 
of  small  birds  attack  the  sheaves.  If  he  does 
not  make  haste  and  house  his  harvest,  robbers 
carry  it  all  off.  His  horse  dies  of  overfatigue 
in  plowing-time.  The  tax-gatherer  arrives  at 
the  chief  town  of  the  district  with  a  whole  army 
of  hungry  agents  with  staves  and  negroes  armed 
with  palm-rods:  '  Give  us  your  corn,'  is  all  their 
cry,  and  he  has  no  way  of  escape  from  their  ex- 


/IDoses,  tbe  Greatest  fl&an  of  Bntiquits    165 

tortions.  By  and  by  the  miserable  man  is 
seized,  bound,  and  sent  off  with  a  gang  of  other 
unfortunates  to  forced  work  in  the  canals.  His 
wife  is  ill  used,  his  children  robbed  of  their 
clothes,  and  all  this  time  his  neighbors  are  occu- 
pied with  their  own  troubles." 

God  had  seemingly  chosen  Abraham  as  His 
messenger  to  proclaim  the  belief  in  monothe- 
ism. He  chose  Moses  to  perpetuate  this  be- 
lief and  to  perform  yet  another  high  service  to 
mankind  in  establishing,  as  a  world's  object- 
lesson,  a  free  government.  His  knowledge,  his 
inspiration,  and  his  remarkable  genius  enabled 
him  to  do  all  this  in  the  face  of  almost  insur- 
mountable difficulties. 

His  forty  years  at  the  court  of  Egypt  gave 
him  the  mental  training  needed  for  so  great  a 
work ;  and  the  forty  years  spent  as  a  shepherd 
on  the  plains  of  Midian  brought  him  in  contact 
with  nature  and  enabled  him  to  become  familiar 
with  the  conditions  of  the  surrounding  territory 
so  that  he  might  better  know  where  to  lead  his 
people.  He  needed  just  such  experiences  to  be 
able,  single-handed  and  alone,  to  overcome  the 
characteristics  of  his  people  and  the  physical 
difficulties  of  the  country  over  which  he  traveled. 


1 66    flDoses,  tbe  Greatest  /Ban  of  Hntiquitp 

The  spirit  which  animated  him  in  all  his 
thoughts  and  in  all  his  acts  was  the  love  of  right- 
eousness. This  was  the  basis  of  his  govern- 
ment, right-acting  and  right-living.  Govern- 
ments have  since  discovered  that  they  can  per- 
petuate themselves  only  by  being  built  on  the 
rock  established  by  Moses.  Every  government 
since  established  in  which  righteousness  was 
wanting  has  crumbled  and  faded  away  and  has 
become  a  part  of  the  dead  past.  Any  govern- 
ment existing  to-day,  however  much  it  may 
now  flourish,  however  great  may  be  its  cities 
and  mighty  its  armies  and  its  navies,  however 
great  its  storehouses,  its  schools  of  learning  and 
its  academies  of  arts  and  sciences,  if  it  be  not 
founded  on  the  rock  of  righteousness  estab- 
lished by  Moses,  is  destined  likewise  to  crum- 
ble and  fall  away. 

The  greatest  man  in  the  time  of  Moses  except 
Moses  himself  was  Rameses  the  Great,  who  gave 
himself  the  title  of  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of 
lords,  who  was  the  mightiest  ruler  of  his  time, 
and  who  was  worshiped  as  a  god  by  his  subjects. 
All  that  is  left  of  him  is  an  inscription  on  the 
rocks  of  Bairetft,  in  the  ruins  of  Tanis,  which 
tells  of  his  cutting  a  system  of  canals  from 


,  tbe  Greatest  flDan  of  Hntiqufts    167 

Memphis  to  the  sea,  of  building  a  great  wall 
from  Pelusium  to  Heliopolis,  the  completing 
of  the  celebrated  Hall  of  Columns  and  of  the 
building  of  temples  and  monuments,  which  time 
has  caused  to  fall  into  scattered  ruins.  His  very 
name  is  a  mere  tradition,  and  for  untold  centuries 
has  ceased  to  have  the  slightest  influence  on 
civilization.  The  monuments  left  by  Moses  are 
the  political,  sanitary,  religious,  and  ethical  laws, 
engraved  on  the  hearts  and  minds  of  humanity, 
which  have  influenced  for  higher,  nobler,  purer 
living  untold  millions  of  lives  that  have  passed 
away,  and  which  are  destined  to  continue  in- 
fluencing for  good  untold  millions  of  lives  yet 
unborn. 

If  greatness  is  to  be  measured  by  its  in- 
fluence on  the  life  of  humanity,  by  its  power 
for  good  on  the  family  of  mankind,  what  man 
in  all  antiquity,  in  all  history,  can  compare  with 
the  greatness  of  him  who  at  the  same  time 
was  prophet  and  priest,  judge  and  ruler;  who 
taught  not  only  by  precept  but  also  by  example, 
and  of  whom  the  Bible  truly  says:  "And  there 
arose  not  a  prophet  since  in  Israel  like  unto 
Moses  whom  the  Lord  knew  face  to  face  "  (Deut. 
xxxiv.  10)?  u 


€ttyt»  of  Jftogeg  anH  its 
ence  on  ^eisient  Cfttiteatfon 


VIII 

THE  ETHICS  OF  MOSES  AND  ITS  IN- 
FLUENCE ON  PRESENT  CIVILIZA- 
TION 

WHILE  Abraham,  according  to  Biblical  tradi- 
tion, was  the  first  to  give  to  the  world  the  con- 
ception of  a  one  and  only  God,  Moses  stands  as 
the  real  founder  of  the  Israelitish  nation. 

The  Hebrews  had  become  more  or  less  satur- 
ated with  the  idolatry  of  Egypt  by  which,  for 
hundreds  of  years,  they  had  been  surrounded. 
The  belief  in  a  spiritual  Godhead  taught  by 
Abraham,  the  father  of  the  Hebrews,  had  be- 
come blunted  by  Egyptian  environment,  and  in 
time  would  doubtless  have  become  deadened,  if 
not  entirely  lost.  The  seed  of  Abraham  would 
most  likely  have  been  absorbed  by  the  people  of 
Egypt,  and  the  spreading  of  the  belief  in  mono- 
theism would  thus  have  been  indefinitely  post- 
poned. Moses,  however,  was  seemingly  chosen 
to  come  forward  as  the  deliverer  of  the  He- 
brews, to  bring  them  out  of  the  land  of  bond- 


1 70  TTbe  Btbics  of  fl&oses 

age,  to  revive  the  monotheistic  belief,  and  to 
found  the  nation  of  Israel. 

Emerson  points  out  that  the  world  admires 
mostly  the  qualities  of  courage,  unselfishness, 
and  the  power  of  action.  No  man  can  be  truly 
great  unless  he  embodies  in  a  high  degree  these 
three  qualities. 

The  world  has  seen  no  higher  manifestation 
of  courage  than  that  shown  by  Moses  when,  as 
a  simple  shepherd,  without  men  and  without 
arms,  with  naught]  in  his  hands  but  a  frail  shep- 
herd's staff,  he  appeared  before  Pharaoh,  the 
greatest  ruler  and  despot  [of  his  time,  and  de- 
manded that  he  let  the  Hebrews  go.  A  word 
from  Pharaoh  might  have  cost  Moses  his  lib- 
erty, if  not  his  life.  Yet  utterly  indifferent  to 
consequences,  he  not  only  demanded  the  re- 
lease of  the  Hebrews,  but  persisted  in  this  de- 
mand until  Pharaoh  was  forced  to  let  them  go. 
We  have  seen  what  magnificent  courage  Moses 
displayed  in  placing  himself  at  the  head  of 
an  untrained,  undisciplined  horde  of  freedmen, 
whose  minds  by  generations  of  bondage  had 
become  stunted  and  blunted,  and  who  had  but 
a  feeble  appreciation  of  freedom  and  order. 

We  have  seen  what  splendid  powers  of  action 


Etbics  of  /Roses  171 


he  manifested  in  doing  all  this  ;  in  controlling 
the  vast  horde  of  which  he  was  to  be  guide  and 
protector,  and  for  which  he  was  to  find  in  the 
wilderness  food,  shelter,  employment,  and  final- 
ly in  the  land  of  Canaan,  a  home. 

Is  there  a  parallel  to  be  found  for  such 
force  of  character,  such  ability,  and  such  power? 
The  Alexanders  and  Caesars  and  Napoleons 
were  men  of  great  courage  and  great  power  of 
action  ;  but  these,  to  aid  in  their  achievements, 
had  behind  them  the  wealth  of  great  nations,  as 
well  as  highly  trained  and  thoroughly  equipped 
armies.  Had  these  military  chieftains  been 
stripped  of  all  their  artificial  aids  and  thrown 
absolutely  upon  their  own  resources,  as  was  the 
case  with  Moses,  in  all  probability  the  world 
would  never  have  heard  their  names. 

Where,  in  all  history,  do  we  find  an  instance 
of  greater  unselfishness  than  is  shown  in  Moses? 
The  greatness  of  his  mind,  the  strength  of  his 
character  made  him  feared,  loved,  and  respected 
by  his  followers.  He  had  no  need  like  Caesar 
or  Napoleon  to  wait  until  a  crown  was  offered 
him  ;  he  was  in  a  position  to  assume  it.  The 
most  natural  thing,  in  keeping  with  the  spirit  of 
his  time,  was  to  take  to  himself  the  power  of 


TIbe  Etbtcs  of 


kingly  ruler  and  dictator.  That  he  waived  this 
power  and  remained  an  unassuming  citizen  with 
no  greater  rights  and  privileges  than  the  hum- 
blest Hebrew,  should  make  plain  to  us  his  un- 
precedented love  of  democracy  and  his  rare  un- 
selfishness. We  find  then,  that,  in  the  highest 
degree,  Moses  possessed  the  three  chief  essen- 
tials to  greatness:  courage,  unselfishness,  and 
the  power  of  action. 

It  remained  for  Moses  to  determine  upon 
what  lines  he  should  found  the  nation  of  Israel. 
As  the  guiding  spirit  and  the  ruling  intellect, 
who  commanded  the  respect  and  the  confidence 
of  his  people,  he  was  in  a  position  to  dictate  the 
policy  of  the  proposed  nation,  with  little  or  no 
likelihood  of  opposition.  He  might  have  pur- 
sued a  policy  of  might,  or  of  conquest,  or  of  selfish 
power.  But  he  adopted  none  of  these.  In  con- 
tradistinction to  the  nations  about  him  he  chose 
to  build  his  nation  upon  a  platform  of  righteous- 
ness. His  people  were  to  become  a  nation  of 
priests,  and  to  be  unto  the  world  a  religious  and 
moral  guide  ;  to  teach  and  to  show  the  way  to 
higher,  better,  nobler  living. 

His  first  important  enactment  was  the  im- 
mortal Ten  Commandments  ;  which  establishes 


TTbe  Etbfcs  of  /Roses  173 

monotheism,  provides  against  the  worship  of 
graven  images,  and  for  the  observance  of  a 
weekly  day  of  rest;  commands  that  parents 
shall  be  honored ;  declares  against  murder,  adul- 
tery, theft,  perjury,  and  covetousness.  Thirty- 
five  hundred  years  have  passed  since  these 
commandments  were  handed  down  by  Moses  to 
Israel.  During  this  long  period  the  world's 
highest  and  best,  the  world's  wisest  and  bra- 
vest, the  anointed  of  God  have  lived.  Marvelous 
progress  has  been  made  in  all  directions — in 
science,  in  art,  in  literature,  in  statesmanship, 
and  in  invention — and  yet  not  one  word  has 
been  added  to  or  taken  from  this  wonderful 
code  of  ethics.  It  applies  as  much  to  the  peo- 
ple living  under  the  high  civilization  of  to-day 
as  it  did  to  the  poor,  homeless,  wandering  He- 
brews standing  in  fear  and  in  trembling  at  the 
base  of  the  mountain  and  receiving  the  Decalog 
amid  the  thunder  and  the  lightnings  of  Sinai. 
These  Ten  Commandments  have  had  a  greater 
influence  upon  humanity,  have  done  more  to 
uplift  mankind,  to  bring  it  nearer  to  God,  to 
raise  man's  moral  conceptions  than  any  like 
number  of  words  ever  uttered.  Take  these  Ten 
Commandments  from  civilization,  and  the  world 


TEbe  Etbtcg  of  /Poses 


would  soon  drift  back  into  idolatry  and  pagan- 
ism with  all  their  abominations.  The  softening 
of  character,  the  kindlier,  gentler  spirit  in  man 
would  gradually  disappear,  and  in  its  place 
would  again  develop  man's  innate  spirit  of  self- 
ishness and  cruelty.  Man,  instead  of  learning 
to  worship  God,  would  once  more  be  taught  to 
worship  man,  if  not  creatures  lower  than  man.  A 
few,  by  virtue  of  greater  mental,  moral,  or  physi- 
cal power,  would  once  again  become  the  world's 
masters,  and  the  many  would  soon  again  become 
their  helpless  dependents,  if  not  their  slaves. 
The  possession  of  a  soul  would  be  credited  only 
to  the  high  and  the  mighty,  who  would  be  given 
a  standing  before  the  gods  ;  the  rest  would  be 
looked  upon  as  worthy  of  no  greater  considera- 
tion than  that  given  to  cattle.  They  would  be- 
come mere  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water. 
It  is  true,  as  already  pointed  out,  that  long 
before  the  days  of  Moses  there  were  laws  against 
murder,  theft,  and  perjury,  but  these  were  made 
civil  and  penal  rather  than  religious  and  moral 
laws.  Men  in  violating  them  were  to  answer 
before  the  human  king  or  his  magistrate;  under 
the  law  of  Moses,  men  were  to  answer  also  be- 
fore the  King  of  kings,  the  one  and  only  God. 


TEbe  Btbics  of  flDoses  175 

He  taught  men  to  fear  a  spiritual  power, 
which,  being  all-wise  and  all-knowing,  and  which, 
being  able  to  look  into  the  innermost  recesses 
of  the  human  heart,  could  not  be  deceived. 

In  place  of  putting  his  stamp  of  approval 
upon  slavery,  in  an  age  when  slavery  was  a  com- 
mon practise,  Moses  was  the  first,  so  far  as  we 
know,  who  strove  to  inculcate  a  love  of  freedom, 
and  to  punish  him  who  preferred  bondage. 
While  he  knew  that  to  prohibit  slavery  abso- 
lutely at  that  time  was  impracticable,  he  at 
least  endeavored  to  prohibit  it  so  far  as  it  con- 
cerned the  children  of  Israel.  While  permitting 
them  to  have  heathen  bondmen  and  bondmaids 
who  should  be  theirs  forever,  he  forbade  perma- 
nent slavery  among  the  children  of  Israel,  and 
ordained  that  the  period  of  servitude  among  the 
Hebrews  should  be  limited  to  six  years.  In  the 
seventh  year  the  Hebrew  bondman  was  to  go  out 
free  for  nothing,  and  if  the  servant  should  say, 
"  I  love  my  master,  my  wife  and  my  children, 
and  I  will  not  go  out  free,"  then  his  master  was 
to  bring  him  unto  the  judge,  and  bore  his  ear 
through  with  an  awl  against  a  door-post,  and 
he  was  to  serve  him  till  the  great  Jubilee 
Year. 


1 76  tlbe  Btbics  of  ADoses 

On  the  one  hand  he  held  out  the  promise  of 
prolonged  life  to  him  who  honored  his  father 
and  mother,  and  on  the  other  hand  he  estab- 
lished the  death  penalty  for  him  who  should 
smite  or  curse  his  father  or  mother. 

There  are  many  who  give  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
the  credit  for  having  been  the  first  to  utter  the 
precept,  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thy- 
self," but  nearly  fifteen  hundred  years  before 
the  birth  of  Jesus,  Moses  had  said,  "  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,"  and  in  various 
places  throughout  the  Pentateuch  he  makes 
plain  that  the  word  "  neighbor  "  is  to  be  used  in 
the  broadest  sense.  One  of  his  first  command- 
ments after  the  Exodus  was  that  one  law  should 
be  for  the  home-born  and  the  stranger :  "  Thou 
shalt  neither  vex  a  stranger  nor  oppress  him,  for 
ye  were  strangers  in  the  land  of  Egypt." 

He  still  further  emphasizes  this  injunction  by 
saying,  "  The  stranger  that  dwelleth  with  you 
shall  be  unto  you  as  one  born  among  you  and 
thou  shalt  love  him  as  thyself." 

He  taught  his  people  tolerance.  While,  on 
the  one  hand,  he  preached  the  belief  in  one  and 
only  God,  he  urged  upon  his  people  that  they  do 
not  deride  the  beliefs  of  their  neighbors.  He 


ZEbe  Btbtcg  of  dPoses 177 

said,  "  Thou  shalt  not  revile  the  gods."  He  also 
endeavored  to  instil  into  their  hearts  and  minds 
a  respect  for  authority,  and  taught  them  not  to 
curse  the  ruler  of  the  people.  His  love  of  jus- 
tice was  of  the  highest.  He  knew  man's  natural 
tendency  to  be  influenced  against  the  rich  in 
favor  of  the  poor,  or  to  be  influenced  in  favor  of 
the  poor  against  the  rich,  and  so  he  legislated 
against  the  respecting  of  persons.  He  said, 
"  Neither  shalt  thou  countenance  a  poor  man  in 
his  cause,"  and  "  Thou  shalt  not  wrest  the  judg- 
ment of  thy  poor  in  his  cause."  "  Ye  shall  do 
no  unrighteousness  in  judgment.  Thou  shalt 
not  respect  the  person  of  the  poor,  nor  honor 
the  person  of  the  mighty,  but  in  righteousness 
shalt  thou  judge  thy  neighbor." 

To  offset  the  human  tendency  of  taking  ad- 
vantage of  an  enemy's  misfortune,  he  said:  "  If 
thou  meet  thine  enemy's  ox  or  his  ass  going 
astray,  thou  shalt  surely  bring  it  back  to  him 
again." 

"  If  thou  seethe  ass  of  him  that  hate  thee 
lying  under  his  burden  and  wouldst  forbear  to 
help  him,  thou  shalt  surely  help  with  him." 

So  far  as  we  know,  a  weekly  day  of  rest  for 
man  and  cattle  had  not  been  set  aside  by  any 


12 


178  TIbe  Etbtcs  of 


other  people.  If  Moses  had  achieved  nothing 
more  than  to  give  to  the  toiling  masses  and  the 
beasts  of  burden  one  day's  rest  out  of  every 
seven,  this  in  itself  would  entitle  him  to  the 
everlasting  gratitude  of  mankind. 

Moses  placed  a  high  premium  upon  chastity 
and  sexual  purity.  He  had  seen  the  frightful 
results  of  lust  and  licentiousness  as  practised  by 
other  nations,  and  he  taught  the  highest  purity 
and  cleanliness.  In  speaking  of  sexual  immor- 
ality he  said  :  "  Defile  not  ye,  yourselves,  in  any 
of  these  things,  for  in  all  these  the  nations  are 
defiled  which  I  cast  out  before  you."  "  That 
the  lands  spurn  not  you  out  also  when  ye  defile 
it,  as  it  spurned  out  the  nations  that  were  before 
you."  "  For  whosoever  shall  commit  any  of 
these  abominations,  even  the  souls  that  com- 
mit them  shall  be  cut  off  from  among  their 
people." 

Not  least  among  the  laws  established  by 
Moses  was  the  one  of  charity  and  generosity: 
"  When  ye  reap  the  harvest  of  your  land,  thou 
shalt  not  wholly  reap  the  corners  of  the  field, 
neither  shalt  thou  gather  the  gleanings  of  thy 
harvest."  "  And  thou  shalt  not  glean  thy  vine- 
yard, neither  shalt  thou  gather  every  grape  of 


Etbfcs  of  /Roses  179 


thy  vineyard;  thou  shalt  leave  them  for  the 
poor  and  strangers." 

The  spirit  of  Mosaic  charity  aimed  to  avoid 
needless  humiliation  to  the  poor,  who,  unknown 
and  unseen,  were  permitted  to  come  after  dark 
to  reap  the  corners  of  the  field  and  to  glean  the 
vineyard.  His  love  for  the  poor  is  yet  further 
shown  when  he  said  :  "  If  thy  brother  be  waxen 
poor  and  fallen  in  decay  with  thee,  then  thou 
shalt  relieve  him,  yea,  tho  he  be  a  stranger  or  a 
sojourner,  that  he  may  live  with  thee."  "  Take 
thou  no  usury  of  him  or  increase,  nor  lend  him 
thy  victuals  for  increase."  "When  thou  dost 
lend  thy  brother  anything  thou  shalt  not  go 
into  his  house  to  fetch  his  pledge."  "Thou 
shalt  stand  abroad  and  the  man  to  whom  thou 
lendest  shall  bring  out  the  pledge  abroad  unto 
thee,  and  if  the  man  be  poor  thou  shalt  not 
sleep  with  his  pledge." 

"  In  any  case,  thou  shalt  deliver  him  again  the 
pledge  when  the  sun  goes  down  that  he  may 
sleep  in  his  own  raiment." 

"Thou  shalt  not  oppress  the  hired  servant 
that  is  poor  and  needy  whether  he  be  of  thy 
brethren  or  of  thy  strangers  that  are  in  the  land 
within  thy  gates." 


i8o  Tibe  Btbics  of 


"  At  the  close  of  his  day  thou  shalt  give  him 
his  hire,  neither  shall  the  sun  go  down  upon 
it  for  he  is  poor  and  setteth  his  heart  before 

it.- 

"  Thou  shalt  not  pervert  the  judgment  of  the 
stranger,  nor  of  the  fatherless." 

The  poor  and  the  helpless  were  ever  close  to 
the  heart  of  Moses.  He  said  :  "  The  wages  of 
him  that  is  hired  shall  not  abide  with  thee  all 
night  until  the  morning." 

"  Thou  shalt  not  curse  the  deaf,  nor  put  a 
stumbling-block  before  the  blind." 

He  abominated  tale-bearing,  back-biting,  and 
revenge.  He  said:  "  Thou  shalt  not  go  up  and 
down  as  a  tale-bearer  among  thy  people,  neither 
shalt  thou  stand  against  the  blood  of  thy  neigh- 
bor." 

"  Thou  shalt  not  hate  thy  brother  in  thine 
heart." 

"  Thou  shalt  not  avenge  nor  bear  any  grudge 
against  the  children  of  thy  people." 

Not  only  did  Moses  preach  morality  for  the 
house  of  worship  and  for  the  home,  but  also  for 
the  market-place.  He  said:  "Ye  shall  do  no 
unrighteousness  in  judgment,  in  meteyard,  in 
weight,  or  in  measure." 


TTbe  Etbfcs  of  flDoses 


"Just  balances,  just  weights,  a  just  ephah, 
and  a  just  hin  shall  ye  have." 

Imagine  how  high  would  be  the  standard  of 
trade  if  these  injunctions  were  faithfully  fol- 
lowed by  all  engaged  therein. 

When  we  remember  that  in  the  Orient  even 
in  this  day,  innocent  men  are  punished  for  the 
crime  committed  by  their  relatives,  we  can  better 
appreciate  the  keen  sense  of  justice  which 
prompted  Moses  to  say  :  "  The  fathers  shall  not 
be  put  to  death  for  the  children  ;  neither  shall 
the  children  be  put  to  death  for  the  fathers; 
every  man  shall  be  put  to  death  for  his  own  sins." 

He  was  not  a  believer  in  vicarious  atonement. 
He  emphasized  personal  responsibility,  and 
taught  his  people  to  feel  that  if  they  committed 
sins,  no  other  being  could  save  them  from  just 
punishment. 

His  sympathy  was  not  confined  to  the  human 
family;  it  extended  to  the  brute  creation.  He 
said  :  "  Thou  shalt  not  muzzle  the  ox  when  he 
treadeth  out  the  corn." 

It  is  these  ethical  laws  of  Moses  as  well  as  in- 
numerable other  ordinances  which  gave  their 
inspiration  to  all  the  prophets  of  Israel,  who  fol- 
lowed Moses. 


1  82  abe  Btbics  of 


It  was  the  utterances  of  Moses  which  made 
the  Psalms  of  David  and  the  proverbs  of  Solo- 
mon possible.  It  was  his  inspired  ideals  that 
gave  food  to  minds  such  as  Isaiah  and  Ezra, 
Nehemiah,  Jeremiah,  and  Micah. 

It  was  the  spirit  of  Moses  which  gave  to  the 
world  such  great  moral  teachers  as  Shamai  and 
Hillel,  the  contemporaries  of  Jesus,  and  that 
made  possible  the  host  of  commentators  who 
have  given  to  the  world  the  Talmud,  and  the 
remainder  of  the  great  Judaic  literature.  It 
was  the  teachings  of  Moses  that  made  a  Jesus 
and  a  Paul  possible,  and  that  furnished  them 
with  a  fountain  of  truth  from  which  they  drank 
most  copiously. 

Jesus  possessed  great  originality,  but,  as  has 
been  repeatedly  shown,  it  was  originality  of 
phraseology,  the  power  to  present  old  truths  in 
new  forms,  the  rare  ability  to  set  forth  the 
teachings  of  Moses  and  his  followers  in  simple 
and  telling  words  that  burn  themselves  into  the 
hearts  of  humanity. 

If  we  take  out  of  the  Bible  the  five  books  of 
Moses,  the  rest  falls,  as  a  great  structure  would 
fall  should  its  foundation  be  removed. 

Not  only  did  Moses  furnish  the  inspiration 


TTbe  Etbtcs  ot  /IDoses  183 

for  all  the  other  prophets  in  Israel,  and  for  the 
founders  and  teachers  of  Christianity,  but  also 
for  Mohammed  and  Mohammedism,  that  are 
likewise  based  upon  the  God  of  Israel  and  the 
law  proclaimed  by  Moses.  We  who  are  liv- 
ing thirty-five  hundred  years  after  the  birth  of 
Moses  are  as  deeply  indebted  to  him  for  our 
ethics  and  for  our  religion  as  were  the  children 
of  Israel  who,  under  his  guidance,  crossed  the 
Red  Sea.  It  is  safe  to  declare  that  spiritually, 
ethically,  religiously,  and  judicially,  Moses  was 
not  only  the  greatest  man  of  antiquity,  but  the 
greatest  man  of  all  time. 

That  he  was  not  perfect  is  but  an  evidence  of 
his  humaneness.  That  some  of  the  laws  and  the 
judgments  enacted  by  Moses,  such  as  the  con- 
doning of  the  perpetual  enslavement  of  the 
heathen,  the  killing  of  the  wives,  and  the  male 
children  of  the  enemy,  will  not  stand  in  a  court 
of  ethics  of  to-day  is  true ;  but  we  must  remem- 
ber the  time  in  which  he  lived  and  the  condi- 
tions by  which  he  was  surrounded.  The  won- 
der is  not  that  he  failed  to  see  some  things  as 
we  see  them  to-day ;  the  marvel  is  that  his  con- 
ception should  have  been  ages  and  ages  in 
advance  of  all  others  who  lived  in  his  time,  that 


184 IT  be  Etblcg  of  flposcg 

he  should  have  been  able  to  establish  laws  moral, 
sanitary,    political,  and    religious,    which  have 
stood  the  test  of  all  the  succeeding  centuries. 
The  question  has  been  asked  how  the  spirit 
of  righteousness  claimed  for  Moses  can  be  recon- 
ciled with  the  statement  in  Exodus  which  reads: 
i    "And  the  children  of  Israel  did  according  to  the 

-1  A>AS$  I/*'*A*OV. 

^      word  of  Moses ;  and  they  borrowed  of  the  Egyp- 

^y*  /tians  jewels  of  silver  and  jewels  of  gold  and  rai- 

Bjent;  and  the  Lord  gave  the  people  favor  in 

^  »  W  f    the  sight  of  the  Egyptians  so  that  they  lent  unto 

them  such  things  as  they  required  and  they 

spoiled  the  Egyptians." 

It  surely  was  not  righteous  to  berrewwith  the 
knowledge  in  their  minds  that  they  did  not  in- 
tend to  make  return.    This  would  not  only  in- 
volve the  sin  of  robbery  but  also  those  of  false- 
hood and  deception.    How  a  literal  believer  in 
,  the  Bible  can  explain  this  flagrant  wrong-doing 
./'  by  the  advice  of  Moses  and  in  the  name  of  God, 
J   I  do  not  know.    Taking  the  Bible  as  I  do,  K^ 
fccmally,  I  should  say  that  either  the  Israelites 
forcibly  despoiled  the  Egyptians  to  compensate 
themselves  for  many  years  of  unrequited  toil,  or 
that  the  Egyptians  suffering,  as  they  were,  from 
frightful   calamities  and    plagues,  which  they 


TOe  Btblcg  of  /Poses 185 

were  led  to  believe  were  brought  about  by  their 
refusal  to  let  the  Hebrews  go,  now  became  only 
too  anxious  to  hasten  their  departure,  and 
offered  them  gold  and  jewels  to  accelerate  their 
movements.  The  story  of  the  exodus  from 
Egypt  being  at  best  a  tradition  handed  down 
orally  for  several  hundred  years  before  it  was  re- 
duced to  writing,  is  surrounded  by  so  much  myth 
and  legend  that,  so  far  as  the  facts  are  concerned, 
only  surmises  and  opinions  can  be  offered. 

Moses  has  had  many  successors  who  have 
done  heroic  work  for  humanity.  Mohammed, 
inspired  by  the  teachings  of  Moses,  stands  out 
as  one  of  the  world's  great  moral  and  religious 
heroes  in  having  won  over  from  paganism  and 
heathenism  even  more  followers  to  monotheism, 
and  to  the  abolition  of  the  vile  practises  of  idol- 
atry than  has  Christianity. 

Take,  however,  out  of  the  Koran  the  law  of 
Moses,  and  the  rest  has  no  foundation ;  and  the 
host  of  Mohammedans  would  soon  fall  back 
into  paganism,  and  once  again  find  themselves 
steeped  in  all  its  vices  and  abominations. 

Jesus  of  Nazareth,  filled  with  the  beauty  and 
the  simplicity  of  the  teachings  of  Moses,  ear- 
nestly striving  to  live  them  in  his  daily  life,  ani- 


1 86  zibe  Etbics  of  flDoses 

mated  with  the  burning  desire  to  tear  away  the 
swaddling-clothes  placed  around  them  by  rabbin- 
ism,  by  which  they  were  being  smothered ;  held 
them  up  high  and  clear  and  clothed  them  in  new, 
fresh,  telling  words,  which  gave  them  a  renewed 
lease  of  life  that  vastly  spread  their  influence. 

The  genius  of  Jesus  did  not  lie  in  giving  the 
world  new  thoughts,  new  moral  conceptions,  or 
new  ideals.  Every  moral  sentiment  attributed 
to  Jesus  is  to  be  found  either  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, among  the  sayings  attributed  to  Moses, 
or  among  the  utterances  of  the  prophets  who 
taught  and  preached  the  law  of  Moses,  and  who 
were  filled  with  the  spirit  of  the  great  lawgiver, 
or  among  the  writings  of  the  great  Jewish  com- 
mentators as  handed  down  in  the  Talmud. 
This  in  no  wise  should  lessen  our  admiration 
for  the  achievements  of  the  Nazarene.  His  is 
the  credit  for  having  so  filled  the  hearts  of  his 
followers  with  the  beauty  and  the  glory  of  the 
God  of  Israel  preached  by  Moses,  and  with  the 
goodness  and  the  purity  of  the  teachings  of  the 
great  lawgiver,  that  he  created  a  great  spiritual 
revival  which  has  since  swept  over  the  civilized 
world  and  tremendously  affected  for  good  the 
welfare  of  humanity. 


Etbics  of  Moses  187 


Jesus  taught  humility  and  kindness,  love  and 
charity,  mercy  and  justice,  meekness  and  right- 
eousness. In  so  doing  he  simply  took  up  the 
thread  dropped  by  Moses  and  carried  on  the 
work  laid  out  by  his  great  predecessor.  It  mat- 
ters much  to  the  world  that  Moses  lived  to  com- 
pile the  moral  laws,  and  that  Jesus  lived  to 
preach  and  to  emphasize  them.  It  matters  little 
to  the  world  as  to  which  is  entitled  to  greater 
honor.  It  may  please  the  race  pride  of  the  Jew 
to  claim  that  Moses,  the  father  of  the  moral  law, 
was  the  founder  of  Israel  and  hence  entitled  to 
the  greater  honor  for  its  achievements  ;  and  it 
may  please  the  sectarian  pride  of  the  Christian 
to  hold  that  Jesus  is  entitled  to  the  greater 
honor  for  having  popularized  and  universalized 
the  moral  teachings  of  Moses.  But  what  differ- 
ence can  it  make  to  humanity  which  of  the  two 
great  characters  is  entitled  to  the  greater  honor 
so  long  as  the  world  is  permitted  to  enjoy  the 
benefit  of  their  joint  labors  ?  What  difference 
can  it  make  to  the  world  whether  a  man  who 
spelt  his  name  Shakespeare  or  Bacon  wrote  the 
works  attributed  to  Shakespeare,  or  whether  they 
were  written  by  a  man  who  spelt  his  name 
Smith?  Sufficient  that  the  world  is  permitted 


1  88  ubc  Btbics  of 


to  enjoy  and  to  profit  by  the  wonderful  brains 
that  produced  the  divine  comedies  and  the 
great  tragedies  that  have  been  a  source  of  in- 
spiration and  delight  to  countless  generations. 
The  world  is  not  particularly  interested  in 
names,  but  in  principles  and  in  results.  And  so, 
let  Jew  and  Christian,  if  they  so  desire,  gratify 
themselves  with  their  respective  claims  for  Moses 
or  Jesus,  so  long  as  we  are  permitted  to  reap 
the  blessings  which  have  come  from  the  work 
of  both  great  teachers. 

It  is  true  that  we  who  are  living  to-day  can 
not  hope  to  improve  upon  the  ethics  laid  down 
by  Moses  and  taught  by  Jesus  and  Mohammed. 
The  great  lawgiver  was  thoroughly  exhaustive 
in  his  work  and  left  no  room  for  the  naming  of 
an  eleventh  commandment.  But  there  still  re- 
mains great  and  important  work  to  do.  The 
first  of  these  is  to  practise  faithfully  and  con- 
scientiously the  moral  laws  of  Moses. 

How  few  observe  all  the  ten  commandments, 
even  one  day  in  the  year!  How  rare  the  man 
of  whom  it  can  be  said  that  in  his  daily  life  he 
faithfully  carries  out  every  injunction  in  the 
Decalog  ! 

The  next  is  to  do  our  fullest  share,  by  word 


TTbe  Etbics  of  /IDoses  189 

and  deed,  in  spreading  a  knowledge  of  the  ethics 
of  Moses;  by  giving  our  earnest  support  to 
church,  school,  and  home,  all  of  which  are  built 
upon  the  teachings  of  Moses.  And  lastly,  we 
may  do  important  work  by  striving  earnestly  to 
correct  error  and  superstition,  which  are  founded 
on  ignorance,  and  by  helping  to  spread  a  knowl- 
edge of  righteousness,  so  that  the  blessings  which 
flow  from  the  practise  of  morality  may  become 
common  blessings  and  may  be  inherited  by  all 
the  children  of  God. 

The  tablets  of  stone  upon  which  were  en- 
graven the  divine  laws  of  Moses  may  be  imper- 
ishable and  yet  avail  nothing,  unless  we  obey 
these  divine  laws,  fill  ourselves  with  their  spirit, 
breathe  them  into  every  act  of  our  daily  lives, 
and  transmit  the  influence  of  their  spirit  to 
those  about  us,  until  all  men  shall  learn  to  live 
pure  and  righteous  lives  and  to  love  their  neigh- 
bors as  themselves. 

Then  will  the  ethics  of  Moses  have  served 
its  highest,  noblest  purpose;  then  shall  we  de- 
serve that  it  be  said  of  us,  "  Good  and  faithful 
servant,  thy  duty  has  been  nobly  done  " 


of 


IX 
"THE  JEWISH  IDEA  OF  GOD" 

THE  chief  distinction  between  the  brute  and 
man  lies  in  the  capacity  of  the  latter  to  conceive 
the  spiritual  in  nature.  The  capacity  to  form 
such  a  conception  is  not  confined  merely  to  the 
highly  civilized,  but  is  found  even  amongst  the 
lower  types  of  humanity. 

The  savage  believes  in  a  great  spirit  to  which 
he  ascribes  wonderful,  superhuman  powers. 
The  idolater  attributes  great  power  and  wisdom 
to  the  image  of  stone  or  wood,  before  which  he 
bows  in  reverence  and  awe.  The  heathen,  who 
offers  sacrifices  before  his  gods,  looks  upon 
them  as  being  able  to  perform  great  and  mighty 
deeds  far  beyond  the  power  of  man.  Go  where 
you  will  and  you  find  man  filled  with  awe  and 
superstition,  which  lead  him  to  think  that  there 
exists  somewhere  a  spiritual  power  transcending 
his  own.  He  feels  that  he  is  surrounded  by 
mysteries  which  are  beyond  his  ability  to  solve 

or  explain. 
13 


194         "ZCbe  3ewfsb  foea  of  0oo" 

Some  one  has  truly  said  that  "  Man  has  cre- 
ated God  in  his  own  image."  So  it  has  been, 
and  so  it  will  probably  continue  to  be  to  the  end 
of  time. 

Xenophanes  says  that  if  horses,  oxen,  and 
lions  could  paint  or  model,  they  would  certainly 
make  gods  in  their  own  image :  horses  in  the 
form  of  horses,  oxen  in  the  form  of  oxen,  and 
lions  in  the  form  of  their  own.  The  Indian  im- 
agines the  great  spirit  which  he  worships  to  be 
the  possessor  of  a  huge  tomahawk  having  the 
power  to  annihilate  untold  numbers  of  the  ene- 
my with  one  stroke.  The  idolater  builds  his 
stone  or  wooden  images  into  grotesque  speci- 
mens of  his  own  type,  and  trembles  with  inex- 
pressible fear  in  the  sight  of  the  dumb  and  life- 
less creatures  of  his  own  handiwork.  The 
heathen  forms  in  his  imagination  a  god  after 
his  own  making,  endowed  with  every  quality  to 
which  he  aspires,  and  identifies  it  with  every 
element  in  nature  which  he  dreads. 

The  vast  majority  of  the  human  race  still  give 
to  their  god  or  gods  a  human  form  and  human 
attributes. 

The  heathen  will  tell  you  that  his  gods  love 
and  hate,  eat  and  drink,  quarrel  and  fight,  and 


Sewisb  fl&ea  ot  6o£> "         195 

that  they  are  actuated  by  much  the  same  hopes 
and  fears  as  are  men  of  earth,  earthy.  The 
idolater  can  not  conceive  of  a  spiritual  power 
that  is  without  form  and  without  body,  a  power 
that,  tho  unseen,  is  all-seeing ;  a  power  that,  so 
far  as  the  human  eye  can  see,  is  nowhere,  yet 
is  omnipresent;  that,  seemingly  manifesting  no 
might,  is  nevertheless  almighty;  that,  tho  un- 
knowable, is  all-knowing. 

Research  shows  that  long  before  Abraham's 
time  there  were  minds  sufficiently  advanced  to 
conceive  of  a  spiritual  God,  "whose  thoughts 
are  not  man's  thoughts,  and  wriose  ways  are  not 
man's  ways."  But  according  to  the  traditions, 
Abraham  was  the  first  to  conceive  of  God  as 
One ;  divest  him  of  human  qualities ;  clothe  him 
with  spirituality;  conceive  him  as  absolutely 
just,  yet  all-merciful ;  absolutely  loving,  yet  all- 
just;  the  first  to  look  upon  him  as  the  Father, 
not  of  a  tribe  nor  of  a  race,  nor  of  a  particular 
people,  but  of  the  human  family ;  who  knows  no 
distinction  among  humankind,  who  showers  his 
blessings  on  all  his  creatures  alike;  a  Father 
whose  every  child  must  pay  the  penalty  for  the 
transgression  of  his  law. 

A  legend  is  told  that  Terah,  the  father  of 


196         "ttbe  Sewtab  1TCea  of 

Abraham,  who  was  a  maker  of  and  a  dealer  in 
idols,  having  occasion  to  go  on  a  journey,  placed 
his  idols  in  the  care  of  Abraham,  with  instruc- 
tions to  see  that  no  harm  befell  them.  During 
his  absence  Abraham  hammered  the  idols  to 
pieces,  leaving  only  the  smallest  and  most  insig- 
nificant, in  whose  hands  he  placed  the  weapon 
of  destruction.  On  his  return,  Terah  was  stag- 
gered to  find  his  valuable  stock  of  idols  in  ruins, 
and  demanded  an  explanation. 

"  During  the  dark  hours  of  the  night,"  said 
Abraham,  "  that  vicious  little  idol,  prompted  no 
doubt  by  jealousy,  arose  and  with  the  weapon 
you  see  in  his  hands  utterly  demolished  all  the 
other  idols." 

"Out  upon  you,"  cried  the  enraged  father, 
"why  this  wicked  lie?  Is  it  not  enough  that  in 
your  folly  you  have  brought  ruin  upon  me  by 
your  impious  conduct?  How  could  this  lifeless 
and  helpless  bit  of  clay  lift  its  hand  and  work 
the  havoc  which  I  see  about  me  ? " 

"  If  your  idols  have  eyes  and  see  not,  and  ears 
and  hear  not,  and  hands  and  work  not,  why 
do  you  bow  down  and  worship  them  ? "  asked 
Abraham.  "  Is  it  not  plain  that  such  worship  is 
vain  and  useless,  and  that  it  must  prove  a  delu- 


"Ube  Sewfsb  Hfcea  of  Go&"         197 

sion  and  a  snare?"  And  thereupon  Abraham 
laid  bare  to  his  father  the  thoughts  he  had  con- 
ceived of  an  almighty  and  all-powerful  God,  not 
made  by  human  hands  nor  seen  by  human 
eyes.  So  eloquent  and  convincing  were  the 
words  of  Abraham  that  Terah  embraced  the 
faith  of  his  son.  Fearing  the  wrath  of  his 
neighbors  when  it  should  become  known  that  he 
was  no  longer  a  believer  in  the  popular  gods, 
Terah  gathered  his  family  and  his  possessions, 
and  went  forth  to  seek  a  home  in  new  and  for- 
eign lands. 

Thus,  according  to  traditions,  Abraham  gave 
expression  to  the  highest  conception  of  God 
that  the  human  mind  has  been  able  to  conceive ; 
a  conception  which  has  stood  the  test  of  ages 
and  sages.  No  one  since  Abraham's  time  has 
advanced  any  idea  of  God  more  beautiful,  more 
sublime,  or  more  in  accord  with  reason. 

Herbert  Spencer,  regarded  by  many  as  the 
greatest  living  scientist  and  philosopher,  speaks 
of  God  as  the  "  First  Cause,"  which  is  but  an- 
other name  for  the  Author  of  the  universe.  He 
says :  "  Certain  conclusions  respecting  the  na- 
ture of  the  universe  seem  unavoidable.  In  our 
search  after  causes,  we  discover  no  resting-place 


198         "Ube  Sewteb  i&ea  of 

until  we  arrive  at  a  First  Cause,  and  we  have  no 
alternative  but  to  regard  this  First  Cause  as  in- 
finite and  absolute." 

The  mind  of  man  is  constantly  struggling 
against  the  tendency  to  give  to  God  a  human 
form  and  human  attributes.  Even  among  the 
Jews,  whose  conception  of  God  is  the  most 
spiritual  and  the  most  lofty,  we  find  some  who 
are  not  able  to  grasp  the  thought  that  God 
is  a  spirit.  We  find  many  who  picture  him 
much  the  same  as  he  was  portrayed  by  medi- 
eval Christian  artists,  whose  works  are  still  to 
be  found  in  many  churches  in  Italy,  and  in 
which  he  is  made  to  appear  as  a  white-haired, 
long-bearded  old  man,  with  three  fingers  raised 
on  high,  handing  the  law  to  Moses ;  or,  as  a 
converted  Chinaman  recently  pictured  him  to 
me,  as  a  great,  old  man  who  sits  on  the  edge 
of  a  cloud,  and  who  is  possessed  of  eyes,  ears, 
mouth,  tongue,  teeth,  and  stomach ;  despite  the 
fact,  according  to  the  Chinaman's  own  concep- 
tion, that  God  neither  eats  nor  drinks,  and  hence 
can  have  no  use  for  teeth  or  stomach. 

There  are  many  Jews  who  have  God  in  mind 
as  a  white-bearded  patriarch,  who  sits  on  a  great 
throne  of  justice  in  the  high  heavens,  with  Abra- 


3ewfsb  Hfcea  ot  Oofc"         199 


ham  on  one  side  and  Moses  on  the  other,  and 
who,  on  the  day  of  judgment,  having  his  great 
book  spread  out  before  him,  acts  as  his  own 
recording  angel  and  writes  down  therein  who  is 
to  live  and  who  is  to  die,  who  shall  enjoy  health 
and  prosperity,  and  who  shall  meet  with  sickness 
and  adversity.  Thus  they  anthropomorphize, 
z>.,  give  to  God  a  human  form. 

The  minds  of  many  men  are  no  higher  than 
those  of  grown  children.  The  spiritual  charac- 
ter of  God  is  as  difficult  for  them  to  grasp  as  it 
was  for  the  little  five-year-old  American  boy 
who  asked  his  father  whether  God  was  at  that 
moment  in  the  room.  On  being  answered 
"  Yes,"  he  further  asked,  "  And  is  he  also  at  this 
very  minute  in  China?"  "Yes,  my  son,"  re- 
plied the  parent.  "  Oh,"  said  the  little  fellow, 
"  what  dreadful  long  legs  God  must  have  !  " 

It  is  only  as  the  mind  grows  and  advances 
that  it  can  conceive  of  a  spirit  without  human 
form  and  without  human  attributes.  It  is  only 
the  mind,  trained  and  guided  by  reason,  which 
can  understand  that  to  give  to  God  hands  and 
feet,  teeth  and  stomach;  that  to  attribute  to 
him  the  passions  of  hate,  love,  and  revenge,  is  to 
belittle  him,  to  make  of  him  a  creature  who  can 


200         "  ube  3e\vfsb  ffcea  of 

be  beguiled  by  tears  and  influenced  by  prayers, 
who  can  be  moved  by  sorrowful  petitions  and 
flattery  to  grant  favors,  and  who  will  inflict  pun- 
ishment for  real  or  fancied  human  slights.  Hu- 
man hearts  filled  with  such  conceptions  of  God 
can  not  be  truly  righteous  nor  truly  unselfish. 
If  what  they  regard  as  reasonable  requests  of 
God  are  not  granted,  if  they  are  visited  by  mis- 
fortune and  suffering,  they  are  apt  to  look  upon 
God  as  unjust  and  unmerciful,  and  thus  lose  all 
faith  in  him ;  they  are  likely  to  feel  either  that 
there  is  no  God  or  that  his  laws  are  unjust,  and 
that  therefore  he  is  unworthy  of  adoration. 

To  rise  above  this  narrow,  low,  sordid,  petty, 
and  selfish  conception  of  God,  requires  the  pow- 
er fcfunderstand  that  an  all-just  and  all-wise 
God  must  establish  laws  that  are  universal ;  that 
such  laws  must  be  unchangeable  and  universally 
binding;  that  they  must  bless  alike  all  who  obey 
them  and  punish  alike  all  who  transgress  them ; 
that  ignorance  of  his  laws  can  in  no  wise  lessen 
such  punishment;  and  that  the  true  road  to 
happiness  lies  in  finding  out  God's  laws  and  in 
observing  them.  The  higher  minds  among 
men  have  long  since  realized  all  this,  and  have 
ever  earnestly  striven  to  search  out  the  truth, 


"Ube  Jewisb  flfcea  of  $o&"         201 

which  is  but  another  name  for  the  laws  of  God. 
They  have  felt  that  he  is  the  greatest  benefactor 
of  the  human  family  who  can  search  out  God's 
laws  and  impart  a  knowledge  of  them  to  his  fel- 
lows. It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  religious 
teacher  and  preacher  have  ever  commanded  a 
high  place  in  the  esteem  and  affection  of  men. 

As  a  rule,  in  the  thought  of  Socrates,  igno- 
rance is  the  mother  of  vice  and  wisdom  the 
mother  of  goodness.  The  ignorant  are  some- 
times good  and  the  learned  are  sometimes 
wicked ;  but  these,  I  think,  are  exceptions.  In 
the  majority  of  cases  ignorance  and  vice  go 
hand-in-hand,  and  so  do  learning  and  goodness. 
Solomon  with  all  his  supposed  wisdom  was 
really  not  wise.  He  was  called  wise  in  an  un- 
wise age.  Had  he  been  truly  wise  he  would 
have  been  less  sinful,  and  would  have  saved  him- 
self and  his  people  much  misery  and  misfortune. 
He  would  have  made  the  magnificent  rule  inau- 
gurated by  his  father  David  more  permanent, 
and  would  not  have  sown  the  seeds  of  subse- 
quent national  dissension  and  disintegration. 

The  truly  wise  man  searches  after  happiness 
through  the  laws  of  God.  He  knows  that  igno- 
rance of  God's  laws  or  the  wilful  violation  of 


202         "Tlbe  Sewteb  Ifcea  of 

them  must  inevitably  bring  in  its  train  sorrow 
and  suffering,  pain  and  anguish.  As  a  wise 
man  he  seeks,  therefore,  to  learn  God's  laws  and 
faithfully  to  obey  them.  As  a  lover  of  his  fel- 
lows, he  seeks  not  only  to  do  this  for  his  own 
good,  but  for  their  good  as  well.  As  a  lover  of 
man,  he  seeks  to  spread  as  widely  as  possible 
what  he  believes  to  be  the  true  laws  of  God. 
Such  labor  is  the  highest  form  of  benefaction, 
and  is  greater  and  of  more  lasting  value  than 
any  gift  of  gold. 

Human  wickedness  or  nature's  destructive 
elements  may  take  away  or  destroy  material 
gifts,  but  the  spiritual  bequests  of  the  wise  are 
as  permanent  as  the  guiding  stars  above.  Diog- 
enes, who  lived  in  a  tub,  felt  himself  happier 
and  doubtless  was  happier  than  the  mighty 
Alexander,  who,  when  asking  the  philosopher 
what  gifts  he  might  bestow  upon  him,  was  told 
to  get  out  of  the  way  of  the  sun  so  as  not  to 
obstruct  the  light  showered  down  from  above. 
The  possession  of  wisdom  and  virtue  made 
Diogenes  much  happier  and  more  contented 
than  Alexander  ever  was,  altho  he  had  all  the 
world  at  his  feet. 

The  higher  mind  realizes  that  God,  while  all- 


"ZEbe  Sewtgb  USea  ot  (got)"         203 

knowing  and  all-seeing,  nevertheless  does  not  i 
meddle  in  the  petty  affairs  of  men  nor  endeavor 
to  adjust  their  differences.  He  has  established 
for  all  alike  wise,  just,  and  immutable  laws.  He 
has  blest  man  with  reason,  with  the  power  to 
see,  to  hear,  to  think,  and  to  remember;  and  he 
leaves  it  to  man,  by  the  exercise  of  these  gifts, 
to  seek  out  these  laws  and  to  learn  that  his  hap- 
piness depends  on  living  in  accord  with  them, 
Man  has  long  since  discovered  how  much  wiser 
it  is  that  he  must  seek  and  find,  rather  than  that 
without  effort  on  his  part  he  shall  be  made  to 
know  the  laws  of  God.  He  has  discovered  that 
the  highest  and  best  within  him  is  brought  out 
in  his  search  after  a  knowledge  of  God;  that 
he  grows  nobler,  better,  stronger,  and  wiser  in 
overcoming  difficulties  and  in  wiping  out  igno- 
rance ;  that  God  has  ordained  that  pleasure  may 
come  from  pain,  joy  from  sorrow,  peace  through 
war,  rest  through  toil,  and  happiness  through 
suffering. 

Man  has  learnt  that  there  must  be  evil  in  the 
world  as  well  as  good ;  that  there  must  be  sin 
in  the  world  as  well  as  righteousness,  and  that 
happiness  is  the  result  of  overcoming  evil  and 
conquering  sin ;  that  the  noblest,  happiest,  and 


204         "tlbe  3ewisb  loea  of  <Boo" 

highest  type  of  man  is  not  he  who  knows  no  evil 
and  has  never  sinned,  but  he  who  having  sinned 
seeks  to  avoid  sin  in  the  future,  and  knowing 
evil  seeks  to  conquer  his  desire  to  do  evil  and 
live  righteously. 

The  wise  and  rational  man  who  has  learned 
to  know  God  and  has  become  imbued  with  his 
justice  and  wisdom  does  not  look  upon  pain  or 
sorrow,  misfortune  or  war,  toil  or  suffering,  as 
punishments  from  God,  but  rather  as  a  means 
to  an  end,  as  experiences  that  are  necessary  to 
lead  men  in  search  of  the  true  path  of  life.  He 
has  learned  to  know  that  afflictions  are  the  fiery 
furnace  through  which  he  must  pass  in  order 
that  he  may  come  out  strengthened  and  puri- 
fied. 

He  who  worships  God  in  human  form  is 
neither  Jew,  nor  Christian,  nor  Mohammedan. 
If  a  man  worships  in  this  fashion  he  'must  dete- 
riorate and  degenerate.  He  who  worships  God 
in  human  form  worships  human  imperfections 
.^and  human  weaknesses.  It  was  such  worship 
that  gave  rise  to  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  right 
1  of  kings  and  the  other  doctrine  that  "  The  king 
***'  \  can  do  no  wrong  " ;  doctrines  that  worked  much 
mischief  in  the  past. 


"TOe  3ewteb  flfcea  of  <3o&"          205 

The  example  set  by  wicked  and  vicious  rul- 
ers, who  were  slaves  of  unholy  passions  and  base 
instincts,  led  untold  numbers  of  their  subjects 
and  abject  worshipers  to  practise  the  same 
abominations  and  become  the  victims  of  the 
same  sins  and  vices,  all  in  the  belief  that  that 
which  could  not  be  wrong  in  him  before  whom 
they  bowed  down  and  worshiped  could  not  be 
wrong  in  them.  Thus  does  man-worship  lead  to 
idol-worship  and  to  all  the  degeneracy  insepar- 
able from  idolatry. 

The  Jewish  idea  of  God,  the  idea  that  God's 
thoughts  are  higher  than  man's  thoughts  and 
God's  ways  than  man's  ways,  has  uplifted  the  Jew 
and  has  led  him  away  from  man-worship  and 
idolatry.  The  Jewish  idea  of  God  in  the  course 
of  the  ages  has  appealed  to  the  world's  best  and 
highest  intellects,  and  has  done  heroic  service  in 
ennobling  the  human  family.  The  late  Rabbi 
I.  M.  Wise  most  truly  said  that  in  twenty-five,  or 
at  most  in  fifty,  years  the  rational  world  would 
believe  with  the  rational  Jew.  Already,  if  not 
long  since,  rational  men  have  cast  aside  the 
anthropomorphic  conception  of  a  God  having 
human  form  and  human  attributes,  and  have 
accepted  the  idea  of  the  rational  Jew. 


ao6          "Ube  sewisb  foea  of  ©ot>" 

Not  until  all  the  world  shall  have  become  ra- 
tional, and  all  men,  wherever  they  may  wor- 
ship, shall  know  with  the  Jew  that  God  is 
eternal,  and  thus  always  did  exist  and  always 
shall  exist;  that  he  is  immutable,  and  thus  never 
changes;  that  he  is  incorporeal,  and  thus  pos- 
sesses no  bodily  form;  that  he  is  omniscient, 
and  thus  knows  all ;  that  he  is  omnipresent,  and 
thus  is  everywhere ;  that  he  is  omnipotent,  and 
hence  possesses  all  power,  will  the  task  of  the 
Jew  be  complete. 

In  presenting  the  Jewish  idea  of  God,  I  have 
given  nothing  new.  It  is  the  view  not  only  of 
the  modern  Jew,  but  also  of  ancient  Judaism. 
In  every  orthodox  synagog  throughout  the 
world  the  Yigdal  prayer,  based  on  the  teachings 
of  Moses  Maimonides  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
is  a  part  of  the  common  ritual,  and  is  recited  by 
the  Jews  the  world  over.  This  prayer  describes 
God  in  the  following  language: 

"Extolled  be  the  living  God  and  praised! 
He  existeth,  but  his  existence  is  not  bounded 
by  time. 

"  He  is  one,  but  there  is  no  unity  like  unto  his 
unity.  He  is  incomprehensible  and  his  unity  is 
unending. 


"TOe  Sewigb  isea  ot  Gofr"          307 

"  He  hath  no  material  form ;  he  is  incorpo- 
real ;  and  naught  that  is  can  be  compared  to 
him  in  holiness. 

"  He  existed  before  all  created  things ;  he  is 
first,  there  is  no  beginning  to  his  existence. 

"He  beholdeth  and  knoweth  our  secret 
things ;  for  he  vieweth  the  end  of  a  thing  at  its 
commencement." 

When  the  great  human  family  shall  know, 
feel,  and  believe  this,  this  Jewish  idea  of  God 
and  the  Jewish  mission  will  be  fully  realized. 
Meanwhile,  tho  it  should  be  everybody's  mis- 
sion to  spread  the  true  idea  of  God,  it  is  the 
mission  of  the  Jew  especially  to  teach  and  to 
preach  this  lofty  conception.  It  is  especially 
his  mission  so  to  live  that  his  every-day  life  may 
be  an  object-lesson  of  the  uplifting  influence 
that  the  right  idea  of  God  must  have  upon 
human  conduct  and  human  endeavor.  It  is 
especially  his  mission  to  show  that  God  does 
not  stand  for  fear,  but  for  love ;  that  the  mission 
of  the  Jewish  religion  is  to  bring  into  the  world 
righteousness ;  that  the  laws  of  God,  however 
stern  and  severe  they  may  seem  to  the  ignorant 
and  to  the  unthinking,  are  wise  and  beneficent 
and  tend  to  uplift  man  so  that  he  may  assume 


TTbe  Sewisb  ffrea  of 


the  image  of  God,  not  in  form  but  in  spirit,  in 
lofty  aspirations  and  high  and  exalted  ideals. 

The  Jew  who  fully  understands  Israel's  idea 
of  God,  who  fully  understands  that  "  Judaism  is 
a  religion  of  integrity  of  heart  and  innocency  of 
hands,"  that  "the  essential  character  of  Israel's 
Eternal  is  to  love  the  thing  that  is  right,  to  ab- 
hor that  which  is  evil,"  strives,  in  the  language 
of  a  modern  writer,  "  To  do  that  which  deserves 
to  be  written,  to  write  that  which  deserves  to  be 
read,  to  tend  the  sick,  to  comfort  the  sorrowful, 
to  animate  the  weary,  to  keep  the  temple  of  the 
body  pure,  to  cherish  the  divinity  within  us,  to 
be  faithful  to  the  intellect,  to  educate  those 
powers  which  have  been  entrusted  to  our 
charge,  and  to  employ  them  in  the  service  of  hu- 
manity." 


3|eto  In  Commerce 


THE  JEW  IN  COMMERCE 

THE  following  is  the  description  given  by 
Josephus,  the  Jewish  historian,  who  lived  shortly 
after  Jesus,  of  Jewish  life  in  his  time: 

"  As  for  ourselves,  we  neither  inhabit  a  mari- 
time country,  nor  do  we  delight  in  merchandise 
nor  in  such  a  mixture  with  other  men  as  arises 
from  it ;  but  the  cities  we  dwell  in  are  remote 
from  the  sea,  and,  having  a  fruitful  country  for 
our  habitation,  we  take  pains  to  cultivate  that 
only.  Our  principal  care  is  this — to  educate 
our  children  well,  and  we  think  it  to  be  the 
more  necessary  business  of  our  whole  life  to  ob- 
serve the  laws  that  have  been  given  us  and  to 
keep  those  rules  of  piety  that  have  been  deliv- 
ered down  to  us." 

Had  Josephus  been  told  that  the  Jews  were 
to  become  a  race  of  buyers  and  sellers,  that  in 
the  ages  to  follow  they  would  be  found  in  every 
part  of  the  globe  engaged  in  trade,  it  would 


Ube  3ew  in  Commerce 


have  seemed  as  improbable  to  him  as  it  would 
seem  to  us,  were  we  told  that  in  future  ages 
the  Jews  would  again  become  exclusively  an  agri- 
cultural people,  and  the  counting-house  would 
be  abandoned  for  the  field,  the  shop  for  the 
plow,  the  yard-stick  for  the  pruning-shears. 

For  many  hundreds  of  years  before  the  Chris- 
tian era  the  Jew  lived  as  a  cultivator  of  the  soil. 
When  not  called  upon  to  take  up  arms  in  de- 
fense of  his  country,  his  was  the  peaceful  life 
of  the  husbandman.  Barter  and  trade  he  left 
to  more  enterprising  neighbors,  and  such  wants 
as  his  own  soil  did  not  satisfy  were  supplied 
by  foreign  merchants.  In  no  other  period  in 
the  world's  history  did  a  people  come  so  near 
the  ideal  condition  sought  for  by  modern  politi- 
cal economists  as  did  the  Jews  during  their  life 
as  a  nation.  Neither  the  pauper  nor  the  mil- 
lionaire found  a  home  in  Palestine.  The  peo- 
ple were  thrifty  and  prosperous,  neither  rich  nor 
poor. 

The  land  of  Canaan,  after  the  return  from 
Egypt,  was  divided  among  the  tribes  of  Israel 
and  then  subdivided  among  families  and  thus 
held  in  small  parcels.  The  law,  which  com- 
pelled the  return  of  the  land  to  the  original 


TEbe  3cw  In  Commerce 213 

owner  or  his  heirs  at  the  end  of  each  fifty  years, 
prevented  alike  large  estates  and  a  landless  poor, 
and  perpetuated  the  existence  of  a  thrifty  yeo- 
manry. 

To  trace  out  the  causes  which  led  this  race  of 
plowmen  to  become  a  race  of  traders  is  to  go 
through  those  pages  of  history  during  the  last 
eighteen  hundred  years  which  are  filled  with 
records  of  all  that  is  damnable  and  atrocious. 
It  is  to  journey  through  historical  chapters  reejj> 
ing  with  hatred  and  cruelty,  with  bigotry  and 
despotism,  with  crime  and  oppression.  It  is  to 
review  the  passages  of  history  that  tell  of  the 
horrors  of  the  inquisition,  the  tortures  of  the  in- 
human rack  and  the  thumb-screw,  the  painful 
death  at  the  burning  stake. 

It  is  to  the  Caesars  of  Rome  that  the  Jew  is 
chiefly  indebted  for  his  change  of  condition. 
Had  it  not  been  for  the  Roman  conquerors,  the 
Jew  might  have  remained  unknown  in  the  marts 
of  the  world. 

For  nearly  a  hundred  years  did  the  Jewish 
nation,  the  smallest  among  the  peoples  of  the 
earth,  hold  the  mighty  empire  of  Rome  in 
check — an  empire  that  was  wont  to  sweep  all 
before  it,  an  empire  whose  mighty  military 


3ew  in  Commerce 


genius  had  crushed  the  most  powerful  nations 
and  forced  them  to  bend  the  knee  in  humble 
submission  to  the  Caesars. 

When  Judea,  the  smallest  but  the  most  fear- 
less and  most  courageous  of  all  the  nations, 
as  the  result  of  internal  dissensions,  was  finally 
overcome  by  force  of  numbers;  when  all  that 
was  left  of  Jerusalem  was  a  heap  of  ruins, 
when  the  savage  soldier  of  Rome  was  steeped 
to  his  neck  in  Jewish  blood,  when  the  Jewish 
bodies  of  the  young  and  the  innocent,  the  old 
and  the  decrepit  lay  piled  up  in  great  heaps, 
and  when  the  wanton  and  inhuman  destruction 
of  the  helpless  and  the  defenseless  ceased  only 
because  of  sheer  physical  exhaustion  on  the  part 
of  the  victors,  there  arose  a  shout  of  joy  among 
the  Roman  horde  that  was  heard  in  the  remotest 
corners  of  their  vast  empire  ;  a  shout  of  joy  that 
might  have  been  expected  had  the  conquered 
been  the  greatest  instead  of  the  smallest  nation  ; 
a  shout  of  joy  such  as  had  not  been  heard  in 
Rome  even  when  its  mightiest  enemies  had  been 
vanquished.  So  great  was  this  event  accounted 
to  be,  that  the  victory  over  Judea  was  cele- 
brated by  the  erection  of  a  magnificent  trium- 
phal arch.  So  greatly  did  the  Caesars  fear  the 


Tlbe  Sew  tn  Commerce 215 

indomitable  spirit  of  Jewish  independence  that 
they  determined  to  crush  and  extirpate  the  en- 
tire Hebraic  race.  Accordingly,  the  Jews  were 
dispersed  throughout  the  empire  never  more 
to  be  reunited  as  a  nation.  The  severest  and 
harshest  laws  were  enacted  against  them.  They 
were  forbidden  to  read  their  Bible  or  to  trans- 
mit their  traditions ;  they  were  subjected  to  the 
most  humiliating,  menial  labors ;  thousands  were 
sold  into  slavery  and  many  thousands  more  were 
used  for  the  entertainment  of  the  bloodthirsty 
populace  in  the  arena  by  being  pitted  against 
famishing  and  ferocious  beasts.  And  so,  bereft 
of  home,  of  country,  of  liberty,  and  of  all  that 
was  dear  to  him  except  the  religion  of  his  fa- 
thers, the  faith  of  monotheism,  which  in  spite  of 
the  efforts  of  his  conquerors  he  could  inwardly 
still  retain,  the  Jew  ended  his  career  as  a  tiller 
of  the  soil.  Bereft  of  the  privilege  of  becoming 
an  owner  of  land,  of  the  privilege  of  following 
the  plow,  of  the  privilege  of  entering  the  profes- 
sions, or  even  of  becoming  an  artisan,  he  was 
forced,  as  a  mark  of  degradation,  against  all 
his  inclinations,  against  all  the  habits  of  his  na- 
tional life,  to  become  a  hawker  and  a  petty 
trader,  and  thus  began  what  has  since  proved  to 


216  Ube  3ew  In  Commerce 

be  the  most  brilliant  commercial  development  in 
the  world's  history. 

Little  did  the  Roman  conqueror  or  Roman 
statesman  know  the  powers  of  the  Jew  or  the 
destiny  that  he  had  been  chosen  to  fulfil.  Lit- 
tle did  Rome  dream  that  long  after  its  vast  em- 
pire should  be  a  thing  of  the  past,  long  after  its 
brilliant  victories  should  be  merely  fading  re- 
membrances, long  after  its  material  greatness 
should  be  crumbled  into  dust,  the  Jew  would 
live  and  thrive,  and  still  be  a  potent  factor  in  the 
most  important  affairs  of  the  civilized  world. 

Nor  do  we  find  that  the  Jew  was  kept  de- 
graded only  while  under  the  heel  of  Roman  em- 
perors. This  was  but  the  beginning.  His  woes, 
his  sufferings,  and  his  degradation  were  still 
further  increased  when  church  became  greater 
than  state,  and  when,  under  the  guise  of  holy 
zeal,  there  were  added  all  the  religious  cruelties, 
all  the  exquisite  physical  tortures  that  the  human 
mind  could  devise.  That  such  cruelties  as  were 
perpetrated  against  a  defenseless  people  could 
be  permitted  to  go  on  for  nearly  eighteen  hun- 
dred years  seems  almost  incredible,  and  but 
shows  how  the  human  mind  can  become  warped 
and  human  senses  blunted. 


tEbe  Sew  tn  Commerce 217 

Let  us,  while  at  this  point,  listen  to  what 
Martin  Luther  has  to  say  concerning  the  treat- 
ment of  the  Jews :  "  We  should  set  fire  to  their 
synagogs  and  schools,  and  what  can  not  be 
burned  should  be  covered  over  with  earth,  that 
no  man  may  ever  discover  a  stone  or  brick  of  it 
— we  are  to  do  this  for  the  glory  of  our  Lord  and 
Christianity.  Burn  all  their  houses  and  lodge 
them  in  stables  like  gypsies,  in  order  that  they 
may  know  they  are  not  lords  in  this  land,  but  in 
captivity  and  misery.  Burn  all  their  prayer- 
books  and  Talmuds,  forbid  the  rabbis  under 
pain  of  death  to  give  instructions,  deny  Jews 
the  right  of  protection  on  the  highways,  for  they 
have  no  business  with  the  land.  Being  neither 
lords,  farmers,  nor  merchants,  nor  anything  of 
the  kind,  they  are  to  remain  at  home ;  you  lords 
shall  not  and  can  not  protect  them,  unless  you 
would  take  part  in  their  abomination.  Put  a 
flail,  ax,  mattock,  or  spindle  in  the  hands  of 
every  young  and  strong  Jew  or  Jewess  and  com- 
pel them  to  manual  labor." 

If  such  were  the  sentiments  of  a  man  fore- 
most among  the  reformers  of  his  time,  what  was 
the  Jew  to  expect  from  others  less  enlightened 
and  still  more  savage  in  their  disposition  ? 


ZTbe  Sew  in  Commerce 


What  other  race  that  the  world  has  ever 
known  could  have  outlived  conditions  such  as 
these?  What  other  race  starting  in  commerce 
where  the  Jew  started,  in  spite  of  being  despised, 
hated,  plundered,  persecuted,  and  cheated,  could 
become  foremost  among  the  civilized  nations  as 
a  race  of  financiers  and  merchants  ? 

But  what  of  the  vices  of  the  Jew  which,  it  is 
claimed,  instigated  his  oppressors?  True  it  is 
that  the  Jew  developed  the  vices  of  the  trader 
and  money-lender  —  vices  that  were  foreign  to 
him  when  living  as  a  nation  in  Judea;  but  in- 
stead of  being  accredited  to  their  proper  cause, 
these  vices  have  wrongfully  been  labeled  Jew- 
ish vices. 

The  wonder  is  not  that  the  Jew  has  vices,  but 
that  he  has  so  few  of  them.  What  other  race 
under  the  canopy  of  heaven  has  undergone  a 
tithe  of  the  sufferings  and  persecutions  imposed 
upon  the  Jew  and  has  retained  so  many  vir- 
tues? 

The  history  of  the  Jew  makes  it  plain  that  he 
has  been  blessed  not  alone  with  talent,  but  with 
that  much  higher  and  rarer  quality  —  genius. 
The  genius  that  enabled  Abraham,  reared  in 
and  surrounded  as  he  was  by  an  atmosphere  of 


Sew  In  Commerce  219 


idolatry,  to  conceive  the  idea  of  the  oneness  and 
the  spirituality  of  God  ;  the  genius  that  enabled 
Moses  to  give  to  the  world  the  matchless  code 
of  morals  embraced  in  the  Ten  Command- 
ments ;  the  genius  that  enabled  the  prophets  in 
Israel  to  give  us  that  great  Book  of  books  —  the 
Bible  ;  the  genius  that  made  it  possible  for  a  no- 
madic and  pastoral  race  to  transform  Palestine 
into  a  veritable  garden,  to  make  the  vine,  the 
fig  and  the  olive  thrive  where  they  had  never 
grown  before;  the  genius  that,  through  Jesus 
and  Paul,  could  give  the  world  the  magnificent 
moral  and  spiritual  results  achieved  through 
Christianity  ;  the  genius  that  enabled  the  small- 
est among  the  peoples  to  resist  time  and  again 
the  most  mighty  among  nations  —  this  same  ge- 
nius, when  forced  into  action  by  barter  and  trade, 
aided  the  Jew  to  advance  himself  from  the  pawn- 
shop to  the  banking-house,  from  the  pedler's 
pack  to  the  helm  of  commerce. 

Were  it  possible  to  arrive  at  the  amount  of 
Jewish  capital  to  be  found  in  the  United  States 
alone,  and  were  it  possible  to  compute  the  an- 
nual amount  of  business  transacted  by  the  Jews 
of  America  in  banking  and  commercial  circles, 
the  results,  considering  that  as  a  rule  the  Jew 


220  Ube  3ew  in  Commerce 

has  come  to  this  country  penniless  and  un- 
known, would  be  most  astounding. 

Were  we  to  add  to  this  his  commercial  activ- 
ity throughout  the  world,  we  should  find  it  to 
be  the  most  extraordinary  showing  ever  made 
by  so  limited  a  number  of  people  in  the  history 
of  civilization. 

To  what  are  we  to  attribute  this  most  remark- 
able success?  How  is  this  wonderful  growth  to 
be  explained?  Can  it  be  that  the  Jew  possesses 
some  mystic  power  that  enables  him  to  escape 
the  hazards,  the  difficulties,  and  the  dangers  of 
commercialism  ?  Can  it  be  that  he  has  found 
some  easy  road  to  success,  some  path  where 
obstacles  are  not  to  be  encountered,  where  diffi- 
culties melt  away  and  where  success  may  be 
grasped  by  the  simple  outstretching  of  the  arm? 
Quite  the  contrary.  No  people  ever  met  with 
more  difficulties,  no  people  has  had  a  harder  road, 
than  has  the  Jew,  on  which  to  journey  toward 
commercial  achievement.  His  was  not  the 
smoothest,  but  rather  the  thorniest  highway  to 
success.  The  remarkable  progress  of  the  Jew 
in  commerce  is,  after  all,  easily  explained.  It 
lies  simply  in  that  he  has  followed  the  precept 
of  that  old  philosopher  who  said  that  "the 


3ew  in  Commerce  221 


ladder  of  success,  of  fortune,  is  composed  of 
six  steps:  faith,  industry,  perseverance,  temper- 
ance, probity,  and  independence."  The  un- 
scrupulous and  the  dishonest,  the  crafty  and  the 
knavish,  may  by  fraud,  by  deceit,  or  by  unfair 
means  succeed  for  a  time  ;  but  no  individual,  no 
race,  no  nation  can  hope  for  lasting  success 
without  a  foundation  of  these  six  virtues  ;  and  it 
is  to  the  constant  practise  of  these  six  virtues 
that  the  Jew  owes  whatever  material  success  he 
now  enjoys. 

But  the  value  to  the  world  of  a  race  or  a  na- 
tion is  not  to  be  judged  by  its  material  success, 
nor  by  its  wealth,  nor  by  its  power.  These  are 
not  the  highest  qualities  to  be  sought  for. 
These  are  not  the  qualities  that  in  themselves 
make  men  better  or  nobler.  These  qualities 
are  apt  to  make  men  grasping,  avaricious,  self- 
ish, and  despotic. 

It  is  by  moral  and  intellectual  worth  that  races, 
as  well  as  individuals,  are  to  be  judged.  It  is 
what  they  do  for  others  rather  than  what  they 
do  for  themselves  that  is  to  determine  whether 
they  are  of  benefit  to  the  world. 

Let  us  therefore  examine  into  the  more  recent 
history  of  the  Jew,  with  a  view  of  learning  to 


222  £be  3ew  in  Commerce 


what  use  he  has  applied  his  wealth  and  his 
genius.  Let  us  inquire  whether  his  faculties 
have  been  confined  to  money-getting  alone  and 
whether  his  money  has  been  used  only  to  gratify 
selfish  tastes  and  desires. 

Go  with  me  where  you  will  in  the  New  World, 
or  in  the  Old,  wherever  the  Jew  is  found  in  thri- 
ving numbers,  and  there  you  will  find  Jewish 
orphan  asylums,  free  schools,  hospitals,  homes 
for  the  aged  and  the  infirm,  and  like  institutions 
erected  and  supported  by  Jewish  wealth  and 
Jewish  benevolence.  Nor  are  the  benefits  of 
these  institutions,  as  a  rule,  confined  to  the  Jew 
alone  ;  all  humanity,  regardless  of  race,  color,  or 
creed,  are  welcomed  and  treated  with  kindness 
and  consideration. 

It  was  estimated,  so  far  as  ten  years  ago,  by 
Leo  N.  Levi,  a  Hebrew  statistician  of  this 
country,  who  has  taken  great  pains  carefully  to 
compile  the  figures,  that  the  Jews  of  the  United 
States  alone  expend  annually  $1,300,000  in 
strictly  Hebrew  charities,  and  half  as  much 
again  in  general  charities,  making  a  grand  total 
outlay  of  nearly  $2,000,000  per  annum.  Propor- 
tionate philanthropic  expenditures  by  the  people 
at  large  would  foot  up  to  $154,000,000  per  annum. 


TEbe  Sew  tn  Commerce 223 

Nor  are  the  Jews  of  the  Old  World  less  benevo- 
lent in  their  practises.  Such  men  as  Baron 
Hirsch,  the  Rothschilds,  and  the  Montefiores, 
who  won  for  themselves  world-wide  reputations 
for  their  beneficence,  are  but  the  foremost 
among  an  army  of  wealthy  and  zealous  Jewish 
philanthropists  whose  annual  expenditures  in 
the  cause  of  benevolence  and  education  equal 
any  sum  expended  anywhere  on  the  globe  by  a 
like  number  of  equally  wealthy  persons. 

As  to  how  the  Jew  employs  his  mental  powers, 
we  need  but  look  among  the  professions  in  all 
countries  where  he  has  been  permitted  to  ac- 
quire an  education  to  find  him  ranking  among 
the  foremost  in  medicine,  in  law,  in  music,  in 
the  arts,  in  the  sciences,  and  in  statesmanship. 

The  intellectual  growth  and  attainments  of 
the  Jew  in  this  country  are  not  less  remarkable 
than  elsewhere  in  the  world.  It  is  here  that  we 
find  the  sons  of  Jewish  emigrants  who,  a  little 
more  than  a  generation  ago,  landed  on  these 
shores  penniless  and  unknown,  occupying  chairs 
in  our  universities  as  doctors  of  philosophy  and 
professors  of  political  economy. 

There  is  scarcely  an  institute  of  learning,  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  that  does  not  number 


224  TTbe  Jew  in  Commerce 

among  its  members  some  sons  of  Israel  who,  for 
intellect  and  culture,  compare  most  favorably 
with  the  ablest  among  their  fellow  students. 
Strange  indeed  would  it  be  were  it  otherwise. 
Strange,  indeed,  would  it  be,  if  the  descendants 
of  a  race  that  in  the  intellectual  history  of  the 
world  ranks  among  the  foremost,  a  race  that  was 
absorbed  in  the  highest  questions  of  philosophy 
and  wisdom,  while  what  are  now  known  as  the 
civilized  nations  were  yet  enveloped  in  darkness, 
— it  were  strange  indeed  if  the  descendants  of 
such  a  race  should  have  lost  that  mental  power, 
that  intellectual  genius,  that  divine  spark  that 
gave  the  world  its  Moses,  its  Isaiah,  its  David, 
its  Solomon,  its  Hillel,  its  Jesus,  its  Paul. 

When  we  look  back  to  the  dark  and  dreary 
days  in  the  history  of  the  Jew,  when  we  recall 
the  repeated  and  almost  superhuman  efforts  of 
mighty  rulers  and  emperors  to  annihilate  the 
Jew  and  blot  out  his  influence,  when  we  remem- 
ber that  by  the  simple  renouncing  of  an  idea  he 
might  have  been  saved  from  ages  of  agonizing 
mental  and  physical  suffering,  and  when  we  see 
that  in  spite  of  all  the  heavy  burdens  he  was 
forced  to  carry,  in  spite  of  all  the  hatred  to  which 
he  was  subjected,  in  spite  of  all  the  kicks  and 


Ube  Sew  in  Commerce  225 

curses  inflicted  upon  him,  in  spite  of  the  rack, 
the  thumb-screw,  the  dungeon,  the  torch  and  the 
stake,  he  still  lives  and  thrives  and  progresses, 
we  are  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  his  is  a 
mission  not  yet  fulfilled.  We  are  forced  to  the 
conclusion  that  he  has  been  preserved  to  carry 
out  a  design  that  is  to  be  of  benefit  to  all  man- 
kind. 

In  looking  over  the  past,  how  clearly  do  we 
now  see  the  wisdom  manifested  by  a  higher 
Power  in  destroying  Israel  as  a  nation,  and  in 
scattering  the  people  of  Judea  broadcast 
throughout  the  world. 

Confined  to  the  narrow  limits  of  Palestine, 
quietly  pursuing  the  peaceful  vocation  of  hus- 
bandry, the  Jew  might  not  have  permitted  to 
perish  the  divine  thought  which  he  was  the  first 
to  proclaim,  the  sublime  idea  of  the  oneness  of 
God ;  but  it  would  have  taken  endless  ages  for 
that  idea  to  become  generally  accepted,  it  would 
have  taken  hundreds  of  centuries  to  accomplish 
in  that  direction  even  as  much  as  has  been 
brought  about  during  the  past  eighteen  hundred 
years. 

The  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  the  dispersion 

of  its  people,  did  much  to  keep  alive  and  to 
15 


• 


226  TTbe  Jew  in  Commerce 

"-spread  the  monotheistic  belief  of  the  Jew. 
Being  driven  from  his  vocation  of  tilling  the 
>yw£.<n  soil  and  forced  into  the  new  and  unwelcome 
channel  of  barter  and  trade,  he  was  by  that 
alone  compelled  to  become  a  traveler  and  a  wan- 
derer, and  thus  is  the  picture  brought  vividly 
before  us  of  the  homeless  and  friendless  Jew 
wandering  from  land  to  land,  staggering  under 
the  heavy  burden  of  the  pedler's  pack,  nervously 
clutching  to  his  breast  his  hidden  Bible,  made 
doubly  precious  by  the  relentless  but  fruitless 
efforts  of  his  enemies  to  burn  and  to  destroy  it. 
Thus  do  we  see  him  wandering  from  country  to 
country,  from  shore  to  shore,  hated,  despised, 
persecuted,  robbed,  cheated,  with  naught  but 
the  psalms  of  David  and  the  songs  of  other 
sweet  singers  in  Israel  to  comfort  him,  with 
naught  but  the  faith  in  the  protective  power  of 
his  God  to  support  him. 

As  an  instrument  in  the  hands  of  Providence, 
it  is  the  mission  of  the  Jew  to  .scatter  the  seeds 
of  monotheism,  seeds  that  could  not  well  be 
spread  by  a  small  nation  engaged  in  the  confi- 
ning occupation  of  husbandry,  but  seeds  that 
have  been  successfully  scattered  by  the  people 
pf  this  same  small  nation  since  they  have  been 


Ube  Jew  In  Commerce  227 

dispersed  and  have  become  traders  and  mer- 
chants among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

If  we  find  the  world  better  to-day  than  it  was 
nineteen  hundred  years  ago,  if  we  now  find  men 
more  kindly,  more  humane,  more  charitable 
toward  one  another,  if  we  find  women  occupying 
a  higher  sphere,  and  the  son  of  toil  enjoying  his 
one  day's  rest  out  of  every  seven,  to  what  other 
agency  does  the  world  owe  so  much  for  these 
manifold  blessings  as  to  the  religion  of  the  Jew 
and  to  the  great  daughters  of  that  religion — 
Christianity  and  Mohammedanism  ? 

When  we  remember  that  in  nineteen  hundred 
years  Judaism  and  its  daughters  have  converted 
one-third  of  the  people  of  this  earth  to  the  belief 
in  the  God  of  Israel,  when  we  remember  that 
during  that  comparatively  short  period  over 
five  hundred  millions  of  souls  have  been  re- 
deemed from  paganism  and  rank  idolatry, 
have  been  lifted  from  the  condition  of  heartless 
and  bloodthirsty  brutes  to  the  standard  of  God- 
fearing people,  we  can  begin  to  realize  the  bless- 
ings that  the  Jewish  conception  of  an  absolute, 
spiritual  God  has  been  to  mankind,  and  we  can 
realize  the  importance  of  the  mission  of  the  Jew, 
the  importance  of  the  work  already  by  him  per- 


228  ^be  3ew  in  Commerce 

formed,  and  the  importance  of  the  task  yet  to 
be  completed. 

As  a  nomad  the  Jew  took  the  first  step  in  the 
direction  of  his  mission ;  as  a  tiller  of  the  soil  he 
advanced  a  pace  further  toward  his  destiny ;  but 
since  engaged  in  commerce,  he  has  made  the 
most  important  stride  in  the  path  of  duty  for 
which  he  is  designed. 

He  must  yet  continue  to  push  onward  and 
forward,  restless  and  tireless,  ever  wakeful  and 
watchful,  all  the  while  remembering  the  divine 
precept  of  the  gentle  prophet  Hillel,  who  said, 
"The  essence  of  Judaism  is:  whatever  is  dis- 
pleasing unto  thee — do  not  unto  others." 

It  seems  to  have  been  the  hand  of  destiny  that 
inspired  a  Russian  Jew  to  write  a  history  of  the 
horrors  of  war  which  commanded  the  attention 
of  the  Czar  of  Russia  and  prompted  him  to  issue 
his  call  to  the  nations  of  the  world  for  the  uni- 
versal peace  conference  held  at  The  Hague. 

The  Jew  must  yet  continue  in  his  course  until 
the  brotherhood  of  man  and  the  fatherhood  of 
God  shall  be  universally  acknowledged,  until  the 
prophecy  of  Isaiah  shall  have  been  fulfilled,  and 
the  people  of  the  earth  shall  have  beaten  their 
swords  into  plowshares,  and  their  spears  into 


Ube  3ew  tn  Commerce  229 

priming-hooks,  until  nation  shall  not  lift  up 
sword  against  nation,  and  they  shall  not  learn 
war  any  more.  Then  will  the  mission  of  the 
Jew  be  fulfilled,  then  will  there  be  but  one  be- 
lief,— the  belief  in  the  Absolute,  the  one  and 
only  God. 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


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